Mars
by Kira Dattei
Summary: Koukuya AU Kouji is the popular, carefree student. Takuya is the quiet one. How much of their coming together was more than coincidence? Chapter 6: Someone similar in appearance and personality...
1. Mother and Child

**Story Title: **Mars  
**Chapter Title:** Mother and Child  
**Pairing:** Kouji/Takuya  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Chapter Word Count:** 5,781 (that's pretty short for me)  
**Disclaimer:** Digimon doesn't belong to me. If it did, we wouldn't need fanfictions to see Takouji goodness.  
**Warning:** This story is a YAOI. That means that there are male/male relationships. If you don't like that sorta thing, then don't read it. If i receive any flames, I'll post them and whoever sent them along with your name so everybody can laugh at their stupidity.  
**Summary:** Kouji is one of the most popular kids in school with his carefree attitude and hot looks. Takuya is the quiet student that nobody knows. They're completely opposite, but maybe that's what makes them so perfect for each other. Now, if only they would realize that...  
**Character Ages:** Kouji Minamoto: 17 / Takuya Kanbara: 16(almost 17) / Izumi Orimoto: 16 / Junpei Shibuyama: 18 / Taichi Yagami: 25 / Yamato Ishida: 26 / I'll give ages of new characters as they come, though you can just guess.

I FINALLY DID IT! I started working on my Takouji fanfic! I know that there were a certain someones waiting for me to put one out and I hope you like it. I'm sorry it took so long, but i was lacking on inspiration and when it finally hit, i just couldn't stop and before i knew it i had two chapters written out on paper. i know i wont stop now since i posted it and im kinda curious myself about how ill work the story.

the story is based off of the manga Mars and if you've read the manga don't tell those who haven't what goes on. i'm hoping some people won't know how things go.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Mother and Child**

He sat on the bench, watching the world pass on around him. Brown eyes took in everything silently. Every few minutes, his face would lower and he would add a few marks in the sketchbook settled in his lap. He had been here for hours and he was still low on inspiration.

He lifted his hand to brush back strands of his auburn hair out of his face. He was really starting to wish his hair would grow back out already so he could put it up again. His mom had made him cut it the last time it had grown out past his neck and he was tempted to let it grow out longer this time just to make her mad. Anyway, he really didn't look good with shorter hair, a fact his mother refused to accept easily. Since she hadn't made him get another haircut lately, he decided she finally got the hint.

Looking down to the picture rested in his lap, Takuya sighed in disappointment at the lack of real feeling the picture held. Sure, it was good, but to him it didn't reach out and speak to him like most of his work did. He had been so out of it lately, no matter what he was doing. It had been a good three weeks since he had been able to produce a good picture. Of course his art teacher said they were as good as ever, but they were just empty to him.

Takuya sighed and slouched into the bench so he could support his head against the back. He looked up to the sky…to meet a pair of blue-grey eyes. The brunette let out a surprised yell and jumped up from the bench. He turned around to face the other boy standing behind him to see a small smile trying to stay off the boy's face.

Takuya couldn't help but silently observe the other's features as he tried to convince his heart rate to slow down. Long black hair fell down his back, currently secured by a ponytail at the bottom of his head and blue-grey eyes danced with amusement at the reaction he had received from Takuya. He hadn't seen someone jump like that in a long time.

"I'm sorry for sneaking up on you like that, but I'm totally lost," the black-haired boy explained. "I'm looking for the University's Medical Center, but I just can't seem to find it. Think you could help me out?"

Takuya let his eyes meet the other's for an instant, then he glanced down to his sketchbook clutched in his hand. He opened it to a random blank page and quickly drew a map of the area, indicating where the park was in relation to the Medical Center, and then handed the paper off to the other boy. He quickly grabbed his backpack leaning against the bench and took off toward his house without a word.

It seemed that the other boy hadn't recognized him, which Takuya took as a small miracle. That meant he wouldn't have realized that they went to the same school and he wouldn't have to deal with him.

Takuya made his way home, trying to figure out why his small run-in with Kouji Minamoto had upset him so much. Sure, he didn't like the older boy at all, but he didn't like most people, giving him a tendency to simply ignore everybody. But something about Kouji made him uncomfortable in a different way than with others in his school.

Part of it was because Kouji had a reputation for going past boundaries and simply doing what he wanted. He used to smoke behind the teacher's back, even though he didn't anymore since he quit, and he had slept around with a lot of the upperclass students. Takuya, not one to be outgoing in the least, couldn't help but be annoyed by the behavior. The fact that something about Kouji made it impossible to ignore him didn't help matters much.

Takuya opened the door to the apartment complex that was his home and removed his shoes. "Takuya, is that you?" he heard his mother call.

"Yeah Mom, I'm home," Takuya answered just loud enough for his mom to hear.

"I didn't expect you home for a while. You usually aren't home this early when you go to the park," his mother appeared from the kitchen and watched him carefully as he removed his outer shirt and hung it up with his jackets. There was a dark look in her son's eyes, which concerned her. Takuya usually didn't come home if he was upset. "What's wrong, Takuya?" she asked cautiously.

"I just ran into a guy from school that I don't really like; nothing serious," Takuya answered quietly. He should have stayed out longer. His mom was always too protective of him.

"Did he do anything?"

"No, I just don't like him." Takuya quickly escaped into his bedroom and closed the door. The smell of oil paint and canvass helped calm him down a little as it always did. He moved over to his bed and fell onto it, lying on his stomach to block out the world around him. "Why do I hate him so much again?" he asked himself after a few minutes of trying to get Kouji out of his head.

He honestly didn't know.

* * *

"Yo, Taichi," Kouji called as he flipped his ponytail of black hair back over his shoulder as he walked up to the bed his friend occupied.

"Hey Kouji, I didn't know you were coming today," the other man answered. He had a bush of brown hair surrounding his tan face, and dark brown eyes that shone in delight as seeing his younger friend. Taichi Yagami had been a friend of Kouji's since the teen had started racing motorcycles and he usually acted about fifteen years younger than the age of 25 he was. His current location of being practically helpless in a hospital bed didn't help.

"You should have known I wouldn't go without visiting you after a crash like that," Kouji sat down next to the bed "How you doing?"

"I'm doing just fine besides the fact that I can't barely move. They got me on some strong pain killers that make you feel like you've gone through a few cases of beer."

"And you would know how that feels, how?" Kouji teased. Taichi may act tough sometimes, but he wasn't one to do stuff that was too crazy, like get drunk or high on a regular basis.

"Oh, shut up, Shrimp. Just because you go out drinking for no reason doesn't mean everybody does. Anyway, if I got in an accident because I had a hangover, Yama would kill me."

"You're lucky I didn't kill you for the crash that put you in here. That was a stupid mistake and you're a better racer than that," a deep voice came from the doorway and Kouji looked over to see a tall blonde standing against the doorframe. Yamato Ishida was another close friend, fellow racer, as well as Taichi's husband and racing partner. Sometimes Kouji wondered how they managed to be happily married when they spent most of the time arguing. _More like Yamato pointing out Taichi's mistakes and Taichi trying to convince himself that they weren't true by yelling back,_ Kouji thought with a grin.

"So, what actually happened?" Kouji got back to the topic on hand.

"I lost control on a turn and next thing I knew I was stuck in bed," Taichi said with a whine.

"Well, there are worse places you could be," Yamato chided, but Kouji caught the subdued tone. "You were going too fast for that turn and you know it."

"That turn was my last chance to get a lead on the other racer so I took it. I took the corner too wide though and my balance got too messed up."

"I heard that you won't be able to race anymore because of your injury," Kouji said, his voice now taking a subdued tone to match Yamato's previous one.

"Yeah, ligament in my knee was torn up so much that I won't get full strength back in it for at least a few years. Racing bikes will be too heavy for me to properly manage. Because of this, I want to give you my old bike." Taichi grabbed a set of keys that were on the table next to him and tossed them to Kouji.

"These are the keys to your custom bike," Kouji observed. That bike was Taichi's pride and joy, having rebuilt everything on it to be customized to his body. He had only allowed Kouji to ride it a few times, which had been unbelievable. Kouji's body build was so much like the other man's he could actually handle it well and he had joked often that it would one day be his. "You told me this bike would be mine only in your death."

Taichi shrugged. "My racing days are dead, and I know you'll take care of it. If you don't my racer counterpart has already sworn to come back from the dead and gobble you up." Kouji couldn't help but laugh at the visual image he was graced with at the declaration.

"It took you a while to get here. Did you have problems finding the place?" Yamato cut in.

"Yeah, I got lost, but I got someone to draw me a map." He searched his pockets for the paper that had led him to his destination and handed it to Yamato, who took it. Kouji's mind wandered back the brunette who had given him the map, holding back a smile as he recalled the other teenager's features. It was nice to get such a rise out of someone and he found himself wanting to run into him again.

"You should be more considerate of another person's hard work, Kouji," Yamato's voice cut into his thoughts and the crumpled piece of paper was held in front of his face, now flattened out. The picture that he saw was not a map, but one of a woman holding a child to her chest with her hair surrounding them like a blanket. Kouji was instantly captivated by the image and couldn't take his eyes off of it. That is, until Yamato removed it from his line of vision.

Yamato dug around the bag that was settled at the end of Taichi's bed and pulled something out. When he turned to face Kouji again, he held out the picture again, now secured within a clear folder. "There, now it won't get all messed up, even in your hands," he joked as he returned the picture to Kouji's hands.

"Thanks Yama, I don't really have any artistic skills so I guess I just find it amazing to see something like this done by someone my age. I really wouldn't mind seeing him again," Kouji knew he would regret letting that slip.

"Ooh, Kouji's got a crush," Taichi teased with a coy expression.

"You should talk, Yagami. Your still firmly attached to the guy you had a crush on," Kouji retorted.

"Watch out, you'll curse yourself saying stuff like that and end up marrying your crush. Anyway, have you ever tried getting rid of Yama? It's virtually impossible, especially with my attractive demeanor and charm." Kouji rolled his eyes and looked down at the picture again. The look in those brown eyes had been so lonely. It reminded Kouji of himself in a way.

* * *

The sound of a motorcycle driving up to the school was a dead giveaway that Kouji Minamoto had arrived. Teachers feared the sound and students jumped to the windows at it. But for Takuya, it made him more nervous than he had been in a long time. It had been a week since he ran into Kouji at the park and hadn't been able to get the anxiety of seeing him again out of his system. He hoped that Kouji's usual lack of memory when it came to people he didn't know was still in full effect and things would go back to the normal system of Kouji ignoring him and him going through school in relative peace.

Kouji entered the room a few minutes later, capturing the attention of everybody in the class without even trying. He was adorned in a simple ensemble of blue jeans, a white shirt and a blue light jacket. His long hair wasn't tied, but a blue bandana held it down and out of his face easily enough.

"Kouji!" the voice of Izumi Orimoto rang through the room as the girl latched herself onto Kouji's arm. "Can you believe our luck? We're in the same class again. It must be the threads of destiny tying us together, making us inseparable for eternity."

Kouji simply looked down at the blonde girl, who was now nuzzling his arm lovingly, and said, "Let go now, please." Izumi ignored him and continued to adore his arm. Being used to this clingy behavior from the girl, Kouji just ignored her and looked around the room for his best friend, Junpei. He spotted him sitting in one of the desks almost in the exact center of the room. Junpei looked up and waved him over. Izumi finally let go as Kouji made his way over to his friend.

Junpei Shiuyama had been Kouji's friend for a few years now. Junpei, or JP to friends, was actually one of the oldest students in that grade level because he had started school a year late as a result of being out of Japan when he should have started. Appearance-wise, he had brown hair that spiked up around his head and gentle brown eyes. He used to be pretty heavy-set, but two years ago he had worked hard to get the weight off and was now well built and could probably kick some serious ass if he felt like it. As it was, he was a major softie who Kouji had never known to actually use his strength to hurt others.

"Hey there JP, where do I sit?" Kouji asked when he reached his friend.

"Right in front of me," Junpei answered and kicked the chair of the desk in front of him. "I think the teachers realized that you need me around to keep you awake." Kouji smiled and admitted Junpei probably had a sound point.

Takuya's heart rate jumped slightly. _You would sit right next to me, _he thought darkly. This situation really wasn't looking to be going in his favor. _At least he hasn't even noticed me. That's a good thing._

Kouji glanced around him and his eyes fell onto the teenager next to him and his breath caught. It was the boy from the park! How lucky could he be to go to the same school? Even more, how could he have not noticed him before? The boy's brown eyes were lowered and glued to his desk. The brunette's hair was pulled back into a ponytail settled low on his head so only his bangs were hanging down around his tan skin.

"Hey there, Slim. You were the one at the park," he said trying to get the other's attention subtly. "I didn't know that you went to this school." He was so concentrated on the boy next to him, he hadn't realized that the teacher had ordered for there to be silence for attendance.

_I celebrated too soon. Great, now he'll never leave me alone,_ Takuya mentally sighed in annoyance. _Just don't talk and he'll eventually give up. That's what everybody does when dealing with me._

"Kanbara?" the teacher called.

_Don't say one single word._

"Takuya Kanbara?"

"Oh, I'm here," Takuya responded but inwardly sighed. _Well, so much for the idea of not saying a single word. I just had to go overboard and say three._ Somewhere in his brain he realized he was blowing this way out of proportion, but it was a very small part that was overpowered by the freaking out the rest of his brain was involved in.

"Takuya?" Kouji repeated the name. "It fits you," Kouji said with a grin, which caused the brunette to turn an interesting shade of red. To Kouji, that was an improvement – at least he knew the other teen was paying attention to him now. "Do you remember me?"

"Minamoto?" the teacher called.

"Oh, here," Kouji answered quickly, and then returned his attention to the other teen beside him. "Anyway, you drew me that map to the hospital. Well, on the back there was a drawing."

_Oh man, this sucks. He just doesn't know when to give up. Can't he tell that I don't like him?_ Takuya thought, trying to block out the deep voice that was attempting to coax him out of silence. _Just leave me alone._ A slightly painful jerk to the back of his head brought him out of his thoughts and face-to-face with the person he was trying to ignore. He realized that Kouji had grabbed onto his ponytail to guarantee his attention. _Note to self, he doesn't like being ignored._

"You really shouldn't ignore people when they're talking to you," Kouji said.

"Minamoto!" the teacher exclaimed suddenly. Kouji looked up just in time to be assaulted by an airborne eraser for the chalkboard.

* * *

"Damn that Orikawa!" Kouji exclaimed as he patted out his hair for what had to be the billionth time. Once again a small puff of chalk rose from the black strands and continued their journey to wherever they happened to land. Kouji's bandana had protected the hair directly around his head, but the bottom half had suffered the shower of powder. "Man, it's going to take me forever to get this out!"

"It serves you right for hitting on someone in the middle of class," Junpei said with a sigh. Sometimes Kouji could be _very_ dense.

"I wasn't hitting on anybody!" Kouji defended as he turned to glare at his friend.

"Yeah, and grabbing onto some student's hair for no apparent reason happens all the time."

"I was just trying to get his attention. He was ignoring me."

"At least someone in our school has the sense to avoid you." Kouji was getting really close to smacking his friend for the cheap shots he was taking. "Anyway, you'd be best to just leave Takuya alone." All plots of revenge left Kouji's mind at the statement. "Takuya doesn't like other people, especially other guys. The only other people he even considers interacting with are other students in the art club."

"Wait a minute, you know him?" Kouji finally asked.

"Yeah, we were in the same class a few times in junior high. He's never been one to talk much and all he does is draw. He doesn't like being touched either."

"And you would know that, how?"

"One time in ninth grade, I was messing around with some friends and I tripped. I knocked into Takuya's desk and accidentally grabbed onto his arm to catch my balance. He pulled away so quickly I barely had time to realize what I had done. What got me was the look of utter disgust at being touched."

Kouji thought over the story, his left hand spinning around the thin black metal bracelet he always wore. Eventually he shrugged and walked past his friend. "Who knows, maybe you just forgot to take showers back then." Slight revenge had been taken and Kouji heard Junpei mumble a response, which he was sure he didn't want to know. "Anyway, I wasn't hitting on him. I just wanted to talk to him. He's…interesting to me."

"He's never made friends with normal people. What makes you think he'll give you a chance?"

Kouji thought over his answer for a few seconds before sending a grin to his friend. "Because I won't let him turn me down. You know me when it comes to a challenge." Junpei sighed and nodded. Yes, he knew full well how Kouji never gave up on something that held his interest.

Junpei's sympathy reached out for Takuya. The other teen really had no clue what a mess he had mistakenly got himself into.

* * *

Takuya stood beside his desk, the English book held tightly in his hands as he read out of it quietly. Unfortunately, his voice was way too quiet for the whole class to hear and they were beginning to get annoyed. Kouji was a little disappointed that he could barely hear him, even being right next to the brunette. He had yet to hear him really say anything and he was curious to hear the sound.

"I can't hear anything," one of the students complained. Kouji mentally thanked the student for the request and hoped Takuya would comply.

"Could you please speak up, Takuya?" the teacher, Takemura, asked. Takuya paused and then continued in a voice barely louder than he had been. A few more minutes was all it took for Takemura to tell Takuya he was finished and called on another student, having them read from where they guessed Takuya left off.

Takuya sat back in his desk and breathed a sigh of relief. It had taken the teacher longer than he thought it would to release him from the task of reading aloud. He lowered his eyes to his book just as a folded piece of paper slid onto his desktop. He looked to his side to see Kouji looking like he had done nothing, but Takuya knew that he had been the culprit. Nobody else was doing whatever they could to get his attention. Figuring he had nothing to lose, Takuya unfolded the piece of paper to read Kouji's note.

_I kept the picture of the woman and her child. And thanks for your help at the park._

Takuya was stumped on what Kouji meant by the woman and child. _Wait a minute…_ "Oh, that one!" he suddenly exclaimed his realization. He then remembered where he was and turned a deeper shade of red than he had ever been before. Kouji looked over to him at the outburst and grinned at the other teen's expression of embarrassment.

"Is something wrong, Takuya?" Takemura asked as he looked to the boy.

"Oh, he just saw a rat over in the corner," Kouji covered and pointed to a random wall of the room. The reaction from the females was, for lack of a better word, hilarious. They all let out a screech and clambered to get on top of their desks. On the other hand, all the males jumped out of their desks and tried to find the rodent that didn't exist. "Jeez, I was just kidding," Kouji said quietly as the teacher attempted to calm the class down.

Takuya wasn't sure how he should react to the situation. On one hand, he was grateful to Kouji for taking the worry of giving an excuse off his hands, but it also made it harder for him to get away with ignoring the other teen.

"So, you _can_ be loud," Kouji whispered to Takuya, who barely heard it over the commotion of the classroom. The crowd may have hid Kouji's words, but it didn't do anything to mask Takuya's blush. _This guy is going to put me in an early grave, I swear._ Takuya finally managed to look over to Kouji and their eyes instantly met. Kouji was grinning slightly and it didn't take long for Takuya to look away. Kouji's eyes seemed to be searching past his appearance, into his soul, and Takuya couldn't let him see what was there.

Once class was over, Kouji had kicked the person out of the desk in front of Takuya and had planted himself backwards in it to face the brunette.

"I hadn't even realized that there was a picture on the back of that map until a friend of mine pointed it out to me," Kouji said as Takuya handed back the note he had given him in class. "I had just crumpled it up in my pocket and would have simply thrown it out when I got the chance, but my buddy got all over my case before I could even think about it."

"Why did you still keep it?" That point was just plain confusing to Takuya. "You don't strike me as a person who's really into art of any kind." He hoped that Kouji wouldn't end up taking offense to that.

"I kept it because…" Kouji paused and appeared to seriously consider his answer, "…because it's beautiful. I saw it and couldn't bring myself to even consider throwing it out. Do you use models?"

It took a few seconds for Takuya to get past what Kouji had said in compliment of him. "For that one, not really. I just saw a lot of women with their children and use al little from all of the ones I saw. It's actually pretty rare for me to use only one model in my work."

"Wow, that's pretty awesome." Takuya glanced over to the clock and gasped. He stood and gathered his belongings.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go," he explained quickly and left the room before Kouji could say anything else.

"Are you going home?" Takuya turned around at the question to see Kouji following him.

"No, I told some of the members of the art club I would meet them after school."

"Hey Kouji, do you want to play some basketball?" JP called from down the hall.

"Oh, sure, I'll be there in a minute," Kouji replied before looking back to Takuya, who had an uncertain look on his face as he observed the exchange. "You got any money?" Kouji suddenly asked. Takuya nodded and reached into his bag to retrieve it, still uncertain about the question. "Let me borrow it and I'll at least double it." Before Takuya could respond, Kouji had moved forward and grabbed the money out of Takuya's hand. Kouji then moved even closer and brought his hands around to the back of Takuya's hair and worked the hairtie free from its place. Takuya froze as the feel of his hair touching his neck helped his brain catch up to the situation and informed him of how close the other teen was. "The bandana doesn't like to stay in place when I shoot hoops," Kouji said, inclining his head slightly to indicate that he was talking about the piece of cloth on his head.

The next thing Takuya knew was Kouji had moved away and was running toward JP, who was looking at the situation – or just his friend – suspiciously. Kouji noted that although JP was obviously annoyed that he had been ignored about staying away from Takuya, he didn't comment. Takuya remained still in the hall for a few minutes after the other two had left trying to figure out where he had gone wrong in his plan to ignore Kouji Minamoto. He sighed lightly and turned in the direction of the art room and continued his journey there.

Takuya reached his destination quickly and silently arranged his materials to sketch. There were a few other students in the room conversing with each other while they worked, but Takuya ignored them as he set his mind to drawing something. The problem was he couldn't concentrate on drawing. His brain was stuck in the hall with Kouji's touch.

"Hey look, those guys are playing basketball for money again," one of the other students exclaimed, drawing others to the window to observe.

"They should know better than to do stuff like that on school grounds," another student replied. "They're going to get in trouble."

_Well that explains why he took my money,_ Takuya thought finally giving into the fact that he wouldn't be able to focus unless he let his mind go through what it wanted to. _Man is that guy something different. It just didn't matter to him that I didn't want to talk to him._ Takuya sighed and ran his hand through his hair, working his fingers through knots that it came to. _I can't believe he just took my hairtie like that. The least he could have done was ask if he could use it. But no, he just had to come close enough to practically breathe down my throat to take it out and run off._ Takuya felt his cheeks burn and he sighed again in frustration. He looked up to his still blank piece of paper and frowned. This was getting just plain embarrassing. He had never had this much trouble drawing a stupid picture. _This is just great. Because of that stupid Kouji I can't even concentrate on drawing. Boy when life comes crashing down on you it doesn't mess around. It goes straight to the important stuff._

After a few hours of keeping his thoughts solely on his drawing, he was able to produce a sketch of a corner of the art room. He had added a few things here and there just to spice it up, and the end result was a picture that could be colored in and mistaken for a photograph.

"This is terrible. I'm resorting to drawing corners," Takuya said in a pained voice. "Man I really need some inspiration or I'm going to lose the confidence of my art teacher." He sighed for what had to be the millionth time that day and leaned back in his chair. The room was now empty besides him and he was glad for the silence. The other students were great artists and all, but sometimes they could just get distracting and Kouji was doing a fine job of distracting Takuya on his own without trying.

The door to the room opened catching Takuya's attention and he glanced over to see his English teacher, Takemura looking into the room until he spotted the teen. "Takuya, what are you still doing here? School ended 3 hours ago."

"I'm sorry, I was just getting ready to leave," Takuya said as he stood and began gathering his supplies. He listened as Takemura walked toward him and froze as the man moved behind him and touched his hand.

"You don't have to just rush off like that. You're welcome to stay if you want," the man whispered as he moved closer to Takuya's body. Takuya's mind raced and he tried to get it to calm down and return to sanity, but he just couldn't calm down. "You're really talented, you know," the man continued as his hand moved up Takuya's arm and his other arm snaked around Takuya. That was what Takuya needed to snap back to reality and he turned quickly to push the man away and took a few steps away.

"I know, and I really need to get going now," he said in a flat voice that dared the man to argue with him, even though he wasn't sure of how well he could back up any threat he might make. He threw the man as harsh of a glare as he could manage and went back to putting his belongings back into his backpack.

"What's your rush? Stay a while," the man said as he once again moved closer to Takuya. He reached down to grab Takuya's hand when the door opened. Takemura jerked his hand back and moved away quickly from Takuya as Kouji walked into the room. He took in the scene, focusing on Takuya's upset demeanor and the teacher's avoidance of looking at the teens.

"Did I interrupt anything?" Kouji said in a flat tone.

"No, Mr. Minamoto, there was no interruption," the teacher answered. Kouji grinned at the suppressed anger in the man's tone. He could have some fun with this guy. "I'm just making my rounds of the school. What are you doing here?"

Kouji shrugged and walked closer to Takuya, who seemed to not be paying attention to what was going on around him. "I'm just here for some art appreciation." With that, he reached over to the other teen and wrapped his arm around Takuya's shoulders and pulled him closer. Takuya had tensed up at first when Kouji touched him, but once he realized who had grabbed him, he willed his body to relax slightly. "Or artist appreciation, if you wanna look at it that way," he added with a smirk, catching the red tint to Takuya's face darken.

"Like you know anything about art," the man retorted as he turned toward the door.

"At least I know who I can hit on," Kouji shot. The teacher stopped and tensed before leaving the room. Kouji sighed and looked down to Takuya, whose head was lowered and his body was shaking slightly. "Are you alright, Slim?"

Takuya didn't answer, but pulled away from Kouji. Kouji looked at the brunette in confusion. Takuya seemed to be caught somewhere between relief and…disappointment, but he was obviously more angry than anything else. "Stop calling me that." Takuya ground out as he grabbed his backpack and drawing pad.

"Are you mad at me, or yourself?" Kouji asked, causing Takuya's movement to halt. Kouji had hit something and he was determined to find out what it was. "If you're mad at me, the least you could do is tell me why. If it's a good enough reason, I'll leave you alone, but if you can't offer me that much, you won't be getting rid of me for a while."

"Why won't you just leave me alone? Don't you understand that it's what I want?" Takuya asked, his voice sounding very miserable.

"Don't you get that I _want_ to be close to you?" Kouji wasn't sure where his brain was taking this, but he wasn't going to change what he said anytime soon. He had finally got Takuya to say something about himself and he wasn't going to let that pass.

"Why? Why would someone want to know me?"

Kouji thought over his answer for a few seconds before deciding on an action. He moved toward Takuya again and slowly moved his arms around Takuya's waist just in case Takuya decided to bolt. Takuya had tensed but he was slowly relaxing. "Because you deserve it."

Takuya was at a loss. His brain was frozen and his body wasn't listening to his thoughts of running away from the threat to his anonymity that Kouji represented. Nobody was supposed to know him, but Kouji had already broken his defenses in less than a day. _This is just embarrassing,_ Takuya thought briefly. _But maybe…_

"Maybe it's worth giving a try," he whispered and Kouji held him closer.

* * *

Well thats the first chapter and i really didn't expect to write it that way, but once its written i just don't have the heart to change it.

The significance of the chapter title is the picture just for clarification since its what started their relationship.

I'm sorry if you think Kouji is too OOC, but my preference of this pairing is Kouji being the male figure. (which is seme and which is uke i get them mixed up all the time.) so, he is Rei and Takuya is Kira (the original characters). that and Kouji has a twin brother, which is a major part of the story. and don't worry about takuya, he'll become less OOC in time.

well, i don't want to give too much away. i want some of it to not be expected.

well, please review. it helps me think of what to write quicker. oh, and feel free to send suggestions, because you have no idea how many people's ideas i intigrate into my stories..

see you next time.  
**Kimra Dattei**


	2. Promise

**Story Title:** Mars  
**Chapter Title:** Promise  
**Pairing:** Kouji/Takuya  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Disclaimer:** Neither Digimon or Mars belong to me, although I wouldn't mind owning Rei...or Takuya...or Kouji...getting back on track now.  
**Warning:** This story is a YAOI, or slash. If you don't like that, you shouldn't be reading. and I really don't care about flames. I'm going to keep writing whatever the hell I want and if you don't like it, don't take the time to read the story. It's not that hard of a concept.  
**Summary:**Kouji is one of the most popular kids in school with his carefree attitude and hot looks. Takuya is the quiet student that nobody knows. They're completely opposite, but maybe that's what makes them so perfect for each other. Now, if only they would realize that...  
**Character Ages:** the only addition would be Izumi Koushiro: 23

okay, i'm really sorry for those of you who have been waiting for months on end. i posted this and then got seriously into my Harry Potter fic. i finally got back into this and then sorta cut it offso you guys wouldn't have to wait too much longer. hopefully i can stay into this and post sooner.

anyway, here's chapter two, see you after.

**

* * *

Chapter 2: Promise**

Takuya was so completely bored! He wasn't one to actually slouch in his desk during class, but he couldn't help it. Sleep had been limited the last few nights, waking up many times a night to the feel of unwanted touches on his body. He had his head rested in the crook of his arms, which were crossed over his desktop. Every once in a while he would feel eyes on him, telling him that Kouji was keeping an eye on his actions. Deciding at the beginning of class to keep conversation with Kouji limited, he did nothing in response to the observations.

A part of him was telling him that it was wrong for him to get close to the other teen, but the other part of him couldn't help but want to feel as safe as he had in Kouji's embrace. His mind noticed how much more influence the want to be closer to Kouji was quickly taking precedence. He also vaguely noted that whenever they did talk, Kouji would keep his relative distance from the brunette, as if he was afraid to touch Takuya again like he had in the studio.

"Hey, Slim, you look tired," Kouji's voice pulled him from his thoughts and he raised his head to look at him. He hadn't even noticed the bell ring, signaling the end of school for the day. Kouji's words finally registered in Takuya's mind and he frowned slightly at the realization that Kouji had once again used the nickname he had taken upon himself to give Takuya. Unfortunately, to Takuya at least, he was actually answering to it now.

"Stop calling me that," Takuya tried to reason again. Kouji grinned at the order and shrugged.

"I'm just stating a fact. Have you looked at yourself lately? If you turned sideways you could hide behind the flagpole." Kouji did have a point. Takuya probably wouldn't mind the pet-name as much if it wasn't close to the truth of matters. He really hated how little his body had filled out.

Takuya had been malnourished by choice for years and it had taken its toll on his figure permanently. His stomach held no fat and he was slim for a male. His height had also stopped improving, leaving him shorter than most boys and girls in his grade. If he wanted he could probably pull off dressing as a female and nobody would notice, not that he was going to put that theory to the test in this lifetime.

"Are you doing ok?" Kouji asked gently, his voice holding deep concern. "You really don't look good at all."

"I've just been running low on my sleep lately. I'll be fine before you know it," Takuya threw in a smile for good measure.

"'Fine' by your terms or mine?"

"Is there a difference?"

"Of course there is. I wouldn't ask if there wasn't." Takuya looked back up to Kouji, having been gathering his papers and books and loading them into his backpack, and waited for the other teen to elaborate. "My definition of 'fine' for you would have to be…hanging out with me by choice and giving me real smiles instead of those ones you've been throwing me over the past few days."

Since when is he so good at reading me? Takuya thought with a slight frown. "Don't I already hang out with you by choice?"

"Not when you don't start a conversation, or ask to come to my place after school, or go to the mall, or…"

"I get the message," Takuya interrupted as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked toward the door to freedom.

"Good, because I was laying it on kinda heavy," Kouji replied with a triumphant grin. Takuya merely rolled his eyes and gave a small laugh. "I think that's the first time I've heard you really laugh, Slim. You should do it more often." With that, the laugh diminished as Takuya turned a deep shade of red. "Oh, I almost forgot to give you this back," Kouji exclaimed as he reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of laminated paper. It was the picture Takuya had drawn of a woman holding her child. "I kept on forgetting to give it back to you." Takuya reached up and took it from Kouji.

"It's not my best work, but maybe it'll look good on canvas," Takuya thought over the prospect of painting it."

"What do you do with the sketches once you're done?"

"Well I don't really need the sketch once I've got the outline drawn on the canvas."

"So you just throw it out?" What was Kouji getting at?

"No, I don't throw them out, but I just don't need them."

"Well, could I have it when you're finished with it?" That caught Takuya off-guard. He would have never expected Kouji to want the picture back. He really didn't seem the type to like that kind of thing.

"I guess. If you want the painting when I'm finished, you can have that as well. I have too many anyway."

"Really?" Kouji was reminding Takuya of a child who was just given permission to get a treat.

"Sure."

"Great, so now we need to work out a payment. I can't take them for free."

"Don't worry about paying. I won't charge anything. Its just art."

"No, I have to pay you back somehow." He thought it over for a few minutes, ignoring Takuya's insistence in forgetting about paying. "I got it. I'll protect you!" In Takuya's opinion, that was really going overboard. It was just a picture after all. Kouji turned from where he was standing a few steps lower on the flight of stairs they had started down than Takuya. He moved up a step so he was closer and about eye level with the brunette. He brought his right hand up to touch Takuya's cheek as he spoke quietly. "I promise that I'll remain by your side and protect you, no matter what."

Takuya couldn't have spoken if he wanted to. The look in Kouji's eyes was a serious one and it bordered on possessive. He was seriously going to protect Takuya in exchange for a picture. _Why does he even like the picture so much? It's not really all that good, and I wasn't really motivated in drawing it. Or does his desire for the picture have nothing to do with it's content and everything to do with who drew it?_ Takuya's mind was going to fast for him and he closed his eyes as his mind returned to a common process that it had taken since the first time Kouji had spoken to him. _Why does he even care about me?_ Takuya's hand rose to rest on Kouji's arm, his fingers twisting around the bracelet adorning the wrist he grasped.

"Deal?" Kouji's voice brought him back to his surroundings and his brown eyes opened to meet Kouji's blue ones.

"Deal," Takuya managed to whisper. Kouji nodded and dropped his hand back to his side and turned to continue down the stairs.

"And if you ever feel like messing around, I'll lend you my body. All you have to do is ask for it and it's yours."

Takuya blushed again at the implications and the thoughts of taking Kouji up on the offer was awfully tempting, but not in the manner that Kouji intended. I didn't matter because Takuya knew he would never have the courage to ask Kouji such a thing.

"Will you lend me your body?" Takuya hear himself call out after Kouji, who had continued down the stairs. Obviously Takuya's mouth had a mind of it's own and didn't need permission from the brain to speak anymore. _Oh crap, I can't believe I actually said that._

Hearing the request caused Kouji to lose his balance and his feet slipped down a few steps as his butt met the stair firmly. He didn't even register if it hurt or not. His brain was focused solely on the fact that Takuya had actually taken him up on the obviously sexual intended offer. In a way, though, he sensed that Takuya wasn't taking him up on anything in that particular area…yet.

"I mean can you model for me?" Takuya finally regained control of his words and clarified his request. He stepped down to where Kouji sat and bent down to see if the teen was all right. Kouji looked up to him and frowned.

"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I made the offer. Where's the fun in sitting around?"

"I'm an artist. I see beauty and I make it even better." Kouji gave him a mischievous grin at the comment and Takuya felt his face get warm. _Where is my brain-to-mouth word filter today?_ "Anyway, artists have a different definition of 'fun' than punks do."

"Who's a punk?" Takuya decided not to elaborate on that particular point. He was already in enough trouble without getting Kouji mad at him.

"If you don't want to, it's alright. I realize it's an unusual thing to ask."

Kouji thought it over for a few seconds before shrugging. "Why not? It won't kill me to pose for you."

"Really? Awesome!" Takuya exclaimed before he could catch himself. Kouji grinned at the response and stood before anybody came by and saw him sprawled out on the floor. It would take a long time to live down if that happened.

"So, you want to do something right now?" Takuya nodded slightly and Kouji led the way to the art room.

* * *

Kouji sighed and looked out the window next to him. His latest ex-girlfriend, Maki, had asked him to meet her before school started. Well, he was there and she wasn't. It's just like that selfish brat to be late. Man, I can't believe I survived dating her for a month.

"There you are, Kouji," a soft but stern voice called and he turned to look at the girl. Her blonde hair flowed down around her face to her mid-back and her eyes were a dark blue. She came up to Kouji's shoulder with heels on and she was well proportioned for her size. She was the ideal girlfriend…until you got to know her.

"Yeah, I'm exactly where you told me to meet you. Imagine that," Kouji replied neutrally.

"Kouji, I want to break up with you," she said as if he hadn't said anything.

"If I recall correctly, I beat you to the punch on that. We broke up a week ago."

"Well, you may be a junior with time to spare, but I have my college exams to study for and I don't have time to play around with you."

Kouji shrugged and stood up straight and turned to walk away. "Well, good luck with that."

"Hey, get back here," she called after him and grabbed onto his arm. "That's it?"

"Um, yeah, of course that's it. We're in a mutual agreement to break up, so let go and I probably won't see you around."

"It was a trick to get you to pay more attention to me than you do to your stupid job and that stupid bike."

"My job may be stupid, but my bike isn't. Taking shots at my pride and joy isn't the way to 'win my heart'."

"I heard the rumors about you getting it on with some boy in your class."

"Who I get it on with is none of your business, and I haven't done anything with Takuya in that sense." _Not that Slim would be the first guy I got it on with,_ Kouji mused, but decided to keep that to himself. The girl was annoying and annoyed enough as it was.

"I can't believe you, Minamoto! I got you a two hundred dollar watch just three weeks ago."

"It's not like I asked you for it."

"Well, then give it back!"

"I pawned it off two days after you gave it to me."

"WHAT!" Kouji flinched at the screech. "How could you?"

"I needed the money for some parts and didn't have a paycheck coming."

"You sold it for motorcycle parts? What's more important to you - me or the bike?"

Kouji couldn't believe she had asked such a stupid question. He looked over to her and answered simply, "My bike."

"MINAMOTO!"

Kouji walked into his classroom fifteen minutes later with a bandage covering part of his scratched cheek. Junpei was sitting in Kouji's desk next to Takuya looking through some of the brunette's latest drawings. It hadn't taken long for Junpei to worm his way into Kouji and Takuya's daily routine, giving the excuse that he was looking after Takuya's well being. The two didn't talk much, Takuya being too withdrawn to really get too much into any conversation even with Kouji, but he was getting better.

Takuya glanced up to Kouji and frowned at the scratches. Junpei followed Takuya's gaze and laughed. "What the hell happened to your face, Kouji?" he asked.

"I got in a fight with a cat and the feline won," Kouji replied.

Junpei stood up and moved closer to Kouji's face. "Last time I checked, feline's don't wear nail polish," he said with a knowing grin.

"The ones at this school do."

"Having women trouble, Kouji?" Takuya asked, his eyes dancing with amusement.

"I'm never going to understand women. I just don't get what is so offensive about saying that I care more about my bike than I do about someone I've gone out with for a month." Takuya rolled his eyes at Kouji's ignorance.

"Man, I've never even had a girlfriend and I understand them better than you do," Takuya said. Junpei laughed and patted Takuya on the shoulder lightly.

"You'll get used to his lack of brains in no time."

"I am still here, you know," Kouji interrupted.

"Alright class, sit down and get your books out," Takemura called as he entered the classroom. Kouji sat down in his desk and glanced over to Takuya to see how the teen was reacting to seeing the teacher again. This was the first class they had with the man after the incident in the studio and Kouji was concerned that Takuya would have some sort of panic attack.

Takuya was tense, but didn't seem to be too bad off, so Kouji went to ignoring the lesson. He didn't care if the teacher got mad at him, assault on Takuya notwithstanding. It wasn't like he needed to know English.

"Okay, today we're going to work on sentence construction. You should have had plenty of practice over the last few weeks and now I want to see what you can do. Kouji Minamoto, why don't you give it a shot?" he called. Takuya looked next to him to see Kouji dozing. That didn't take long. Usually he lasts for about fifteen minutes.

Junpei leaned back in his chair so he could kick the bottom of Kouji's chair to rouse him. Kouji jumped up and looked around. His eyes landed on Takuya, who inclined his head toward the board and the waiting teacher. He sighed and stood, stretching as he walked toward the front of the class.

"Let's see what you can do for us, Mr. Minamoto." Kouji crossed his arms, appearing to be in deep thought. "What's wrong? Aren't so big off the court, are you?"

Takuya's eyes moved to the teacher suspiciously. _He's harassing Kouji. I didn't think he would take Kouji catching him molesting me so hard. _Kouji picked up a piece of chalk and began writing in perfect English letters. "You should have let me sleep," he said.

_The teacher whose mask is kind is truly a monster that sexually harasses defenseless male students._

Takemura gasped and hurried to erase the board as Kouji tossed the chalk on the teacher's desk and walked back to his desk with a wide grin on his face. "Nice try, Takemura, but I lived in California for six years. I'm probably better at English than you are."

Murmurs started filtering through the room, questioning who Kouji meant by his message. Kouji reached his desk, but paused as he saw a tan hand move off the corner of the desk next to him. He smiled and brought his hand down to it in a low-five. He glanced to Takuya's face to see a bright smile across the teen's face.

_Everybody keeps telling me about how bad of a kid he is. Sure, he's a wild guy but I've never sensed selfishness in him. He just acts how he feels like acting and doesn't care if someone has a problem with it. Someone like that should bug me, but I don't mind. I don't think I ever really did._ Takuya remained lost in thought over the last hour of class since nothing else interesting caught his attention.

By the end of class he had worked out an important fact that shocked him. _I actually understand him. I've only interacted with him for almost two weeks and I completely understand how he acts. I may not know why he acts that way, but I get him enough not to care._

Takuya looked next to him to where Kouji was still dozing and smiled softly. Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all.

"See you tomorrow, Slim!" Kouji yelled after Takuya as the other teen walked away from school. He knew that Takuya didn't like attention on him, but he just couldn't help but get Takuya flustered. Junpei had tried to convince him to take it easy with Takuya, but the brunette hadn't told him seriously to stop so he kept doing it.

He removed the chain from his bike and stuffed it into the pouch secured to the back of the bike. He pushed it upright and threw his leg over the seat. He inserted the key in and relished the feeling of the engine roaring under him. He put it in gear and pulled away as fast as he could manage.

Kouji knew something was wrong when he stopped accelerating and the engine idled down, but the transmission didn't start slowing the bike down. Kouji shifted the bike into neutral and applied the brakes, but nothing happened. Crap, my brakes don't work. Deciding to stop it the easy way, he turned the bike sharply and leaned into the turn as far as he could, causing the bike to fall onto its side and slide to a stop, Kouji releasing his hold on it even before it hit the ground to save himself serious injury.'

The bike didn't take long to stop and Kouji stood where he had fallen. He sighed and walked over to his bike and turned off the engine. "Someone's really got it bad with me if they go straight for my bike." He lifted the bike back on its wheels and groaned at what he saw. "Man, if Tai sees these scratches he's gonna kill me. That takes care of going to him to fix the problem." He went over his mental list of friends that could check out the bike and decided that Izumi Koushiro, an old friend and motorcycle - among other things - genius that he had known for years. Sure, Izzy, as they called him, was a close friend of Tai's, but he would respect Kouji's wish not to tell the bike's previous owner.

* * *

"Who are you pissing off this time, Minamoto?" Izzy asked as he began replacing the cut brake line. "This was a clean cut so you couldn't have cut it on the road."

"Of course I couldn't, I was in school when it was cut."

"You...in school? Did I miss hell freezing over?" Kouji rolled his eyes.

"Give me a break, Izzy. I catch enough crap from Yamato, Tai, and the students."

"And I'm sure you do everything you can to deserve such treatment." Kouji's response was the middle finger pointed in his friend's general direction. "Seriously, Kouji, watch yourself if someone is pissed off enough at you to go to your bike. If you were riding one of the bikes you put together, you wouldn't have been so lucky."

"Yeah, Tai sure did a genius' job of getting this baby together," Kouji said as he patted the bike. "It really sucks that he can't race anymore."

"Who knows, maybe he will if he works hard enough. You know Tai."

"Yeah, stubborn as hell and always doing stuff because people say he can't. Maybe he's too stubborn."

"This coming from the guy who works full-time labor so he doesn't have to go home."

"Well, I better be getting to that full-time job or I'll be looking for a new one."

"Give me a call if you have anymore problems. You know I'm always here to give you a hand when you don't want to upset Tai."

"Just what everybody needs."

* * *

The English teacher was easy for Kouji to find and catch up to the next day at school. Kouji figured the quicker he settled things with Takemura, the sooner he could get Takuya's mind back where it should be. The other teen said it didn't bug him, but Kouji had noticed the shadows around Takuya's eyes, signaling lack of sleep. They both could do with that.

"Hey, Takemura," Kouji called and placed his hand on the man's shoulder to get his attention further. The man looked over his shoulder and shock passed through his eyes. "You should have warned me that you play hard. That little stunt you pulled on my bike nearly sat me in a hospital bed. I'm just lucky I have guys that know what their doing putting a bike together."

"I really have no idea what you're talking about," Takemura attempted, but the fear in his voice gave him away.

"Now that I know you don't screw around, I won't disrespect you by not giving it my all. I mean, think about it: this is my only chance to really go wild with my life. You know, being a minor still." Kouji walked past the man, but paused when he was a few feet away before speaking again, turning to watch the man's reaction. "Just checking, but your car is that tan '92 Infiniti, right?"

The teacher could only watch as the teenager walked away as if threatening him like that was no big deal. From the tone of his voice and intensity of his gaze, Takemura didn't doubt that he would make good on his threat if given the chance and a reason to.

This was no ordinary kid he was dealing with - he couldn't deal with this person. He would lose...

* * *

"Hey Kouji, I heard you were single again," Izumi chided as she leaned against his desk. "It's about time you dumped her. She was just cramping your style."

"I really couldn't care less about what she did to my style," Kouji replied, his voice bored.

"That's because it doesn't exist," Junpei added to the conversation from behind.

"You don't do much better, Mama's Boy."

"You wanna hook up with me?" Izumi got herself back into the conversation that _she_ started.

"No thanks, once was enough for me." Kouji replied instantly. He had been waiting for that question to jump up. Izumi was getting too desperate for his attention to not let his availability pass by.

"How could you say that? We made a great couple, and you know it."

"I thought it was just good sex." Izumi fumed before turning and walking toward her desk.

Kouji looked toward the door to catch Takuya walk in and he waved the other teen ocer. Takuya smiled slightly and walked to his desk as he pulled his backpack from his shoulders.

"'Morning," he greeted.

"What's up, Slim?" Kouji replied, his mood getting lighter already.

"Good Morning, Takky!" Junpei greeted, opting to use his own nickname for Takuya.

"Isn't anyone going to actually use my name?" Takuya complained as he did every morning. "Have either of you two heard anything about Takemura quitting this morning?" Kouji grinned slightly before schooling his face to a neutral expression.

"Really? He just up and quit? I wonder why," he said earning him a suspicious look from Takuya. "Hey, since when are you up on the rumor mill?"

"The art club's other members are really into the rumor thing. I just happen to be in the same room as them when they go off."

"So, should I go there whenever I need an update?"

"You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the teacher's sudden decision, would you Kouji?" Takuya asked, bringing them back on track.

"Whatever makes you think that?"

"It might have something to do with what you wrote on the board yesterday."

"And the crash you took on your bike after school?" Junpei added.

"You know how I ride."

"And you've never crashed just driving out of the school lot."

"It's a new bike and I'm not used to it's handle yet." Neither one of them looked convinced, but Kouji was saved by the teacher announcing the beginning of class. Kouji wasn't worried about telling Junpei. In fact, he would probably end up giving all the juicy details once school was out, and his friend would just shake his head and laugh. Takuya was another matter completely. He would feel responsible for putting Kouji in danger and everybody could do without that.

* * *

Takuya packed away his textbooks and turned toward the door. As he walked into the hall, he paused at who stood beyond it. Izumi looked up and met his eyes. He looked back calmly, before he started walking past her.

"What's your deal?" Izumi asked. "You're nobody and yet you seem to be the center of Kouji's attention lately."

"You think I asked for it?" Takuya responded.

"Well, you certainly aren't objecting either."

"You're his friend and you don't get that you can't make Kooji do something he doesn't want to do. I've given up trying to convince him to leave before he gets bored around me. But don't get me wrong, I don't actually mind his company anymore."

"But why you? You're always quiet, always down. What does he see in you that I don't?"

"If you figure it out, let me know, because I'm lost on that one." Takuya walked by Izumi and away from the girl.

"I won't lose him to you," she said in a low, threatening voice.

"I already said that I didn't ask for any of the attention he gives me. I don't control him and neither do you. It's up to him to live however he wants to."

Izumi let Takuya leave. Why did everything he said make so much sense? Why couldn't he be that quiet kid she always knew him to be? Why did he seem to know all the answers for Kouji's actions when she was scraping for reasons as to why she had to have Kouji with her again? She had been wrong about Takuya - they all were. This was no dumb kid who just hid behind a sketchpad.

"I get it, Kouji. You already know what he's like. But I still won't lose you without a fight. Kanbara's going to have to work to get you."

She just hoped she would still have Kouji's friendship if she did go all-out to get him back.

* * *

so, how did you like it? i'm going to have to start coming away from the Mars manga for the stuff between Izumi and Takuya. it might actually get hard for me to work out the fact that this story is yaoi and Mars isn't. oh well, i'll stick with it, no matter what flamers say. speaking of which, i got a flame and it just made me laugh. i really didn't see a point to the flame and that just makes me laugh at the person who sent it.

**Review Replies:  
Flame sender: **get a life and actually read what people write

**i am noone who are you...:** glad you like it, hope you enjoyed.

**oneontainternet:** thank you forthe compliment. here's the update.

**NymAulth:** glad to know a Mars fan likes it.

**Redrum:** glad you like it. i like the idea of Takuya being reserved and when i think of Kouji not being closed off like he is in the series, i see a personality kinda like i write him, which is why i'm writing it like this.  
about what happened between Takuya and JP, and the look of disgust, you'll know why later, and it was a few years ago, so Takuya isn't as bothered as he was before about being touched. attraction to kouji is what helped to let Kouji hold him like he did. hope thats a good explanation for now.  
hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

**Dragi:** cool, someone i recognize and love the work of. i'm glad you got so into the story and sorry i didn't update for you sooner. hope you enjoyed.

**takuya:** glad you liked it. ah, Takuya with longer hair drool. takuya's hair and his dubbed voice is why i love him so much. same for kouji, but something about the guy who plays takuya's dubbed voice just melts me.

**KendoSakuyamon:** glad you like kouji being OOC so much. thanks for reading and liking. enjoy!

**SugaSuga4u:** hope you enjoyed and thank you.

**MilliKilo:** i'm glad you like it. my writing of this story is a combination of what i like most about Mars mixed with my own little twists. something has to be mine to turn a non-yaoi based story into a yaoi using characters from another anime. i hate the teacher too, which is why he didn't last long. im sure you'll hate some of the people coming in the future even more though. hope you enjoyed this chapter. sorry i didn't update sooner.

**madmaggie:** i'm glad you enjoyed it so much. oh yeah, no pressure on updates...

**Lexa000:** thank you, hope you enjoy this chapter too.

**sincerity and faith:** hope you liked this chapter too.

**sean's girl:** woo-hoo! another Mars fan that like the fic. i'm gonna try to keep to the storyline in an overall aspect, but i will have to change stuff since this is a yaoi...a point that's already being shoved in my face as i re-read the manga. hope you liked this chapter, and suggestions are always welcome.

**Bonnie Mizuhara Asakura:** thank you for the compliments. hope you enjoy the rest of the story.

**KouichiGirl:** thank you, enjoy.

**Naruto Kaiba:** glad i'm a fave. if it makes you feel better, as the story goes on, we'll see snippets of the takuya we know and love. enjoy!

**Canadian Anime Princesseses:** okay, here you go! i continued! you really don't have to beg...but a picture of that would be funny. if you live in Canada, I'm right next door in Alaska. either way. hope you loved this chapter as much.

**SailorChibi:** which parts are you looking forward to for example? have you read more than the first one? it was the first manga i officially owned. now i could run a bookstore with my manga alone. hope you enjoy.

**dark mystic:** the chapters will hopefully get longer. i can't stand writing short chapters. it just makes me feel like it isn't worth the wait for you readers to only get a short chapter. enjoy!

**Thu-Tien:** thank you much.

**Tanegaroa:** wow, a sexy story. i have to say that wasn't on the list of thoughts i had built up of reader's opinions. and no way could i keep this a one-shot. not with this many people asking for more.

**TALA MINE-TALA HOT:** sorry this wasn't as "more this instant" as it could have been. hope you enjoy.

**KittyDuo195:** thank you, and i agree, kouji's hair is awesome like rei's.

i can't believe i got 24 reviews on one chapter. thank you all so much for reading and reviewing. if you have read Mars and have any suggestions or certain parts that you absolutely want to see, let me know and i'll be extra careful to include it.

i'm also making a list of people to send an alert to when i update. if you want to be on the list, let me know in your review with you email addy, or drop me an email at and i'll be sure to add you to my emailing list.

one more thing that's kinda off topic of the fanfic, but have any of you read "Only the Ring Finger Knows"? im obsessed with that manga and im kinda looking around for info on if they are planning to translate the novels of after Yuichi and Wataru are a couple. if anybody knows anything, please let me know.

anyway, see you next time,  
**Kimra Dattei**


	3. Changes

**Story Title:** Mars  
**Chapter Title:** Changes  
**Pairing: **Kouji/Takuya (i'm getting to it, really)  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Chapter Word Count:** 5.976  
**Warning:** This story is a YAOI, or slash. If you don't like that, you shouldn't be reading. and I really don't care about flames. I'm going to keep writing whatever the hell I want and if you don't like it, don't take the time to read the story. It's not that hard of a concept.  
**Summary:**Kouji is one of the most popular kids in school with his carefree attitude and hot looks. Takuya is the quiet student that nobody knows. They're completely opposite, but maybe that's what makes them so perfect for each other. Now, if only they would realize that...

yay! i finished the chapter! finally. and most of it was done on my new computer. i love that thing. i've bought a whole bunch of stuff to give it the best set-up of my room. its almost enough to rival that of my entertainment center, but not quite. i bought new speakers for it, and a new keyboard and mouse set that are cordless. i'm go happy!  
anyway, i'm only slightly disappointed with this. the only problem i have with it is i feel i rushed izumi into being pleasant. but this chapter does have some lines that i laugh at every time i read it. hopefully you find them as funny.  
well, enjoy and see you after

* * *

Chapter 3: Changes

Takuya looked between the single piece of paper and the blank canvas in front of him, pencil hovering somewhere inbetween. He had been trying to start on the painting for Kouji for almost an hour now, but nothing came out.

_"I promise that I'll remain by your side and protect you, no matter what."_

"Oh man, I'll never get it finished at this rate," he mumbled and leaned back in his chair allowing his body to relax into a slouching position. "I just can't start without thinking about finishing it. I feel like once it's finished, there'll be nothing holding us together."

He frowned as he recalled what he had told Izumi. _I can't believe I said that stuff to her. Now she'll probably think I'm trying to keep her from getting with Kouji and sic some of her friends after me. She's got some of the toughest guys in school waiting to take orders._ His eyes drifted closed as he thought. _Maybe I should keep my distance from Kouji. It's not like we're going out or anything. I'll just finish the painting, give it to him, and we can go our seperate ways._

Armed with this decision, Takuya opened his eyes and readied himself to start on the promised portrait, intent on at least finishing the outline tonight. Fifteen minutes later, the canvas was still blank and he was even more frustrated. "Oh man, I think I passed right by 'lack of inspiration' and jumped right into a wall of dead talent...whatever that is." Takuya stood and walked over to his bed and fell onto it. "I need a new hobby for these times." His mom knocked on the door a few minutes later to tell him it was time to go to sleep and for once he didn't argure.

* * *

Takuya flicked his bangs out of his face for what had to be the thousandth time since school started. He couldn't believe he forgot to grab something to tie it back. He decided to blame his laspe on getting a good night's sleep. Class had finished a few minutes early and they were waiting for the bell to announce the end of school so they could go their seperate ways into the world only to flock back tomorrow. He could hear Izumi, Junpei, and Kouji talking next to him, but didn't listen to what they were saying.

Izumi had all but sewn herself to Kouji since Takuya had walked in the door and he hadn't even said a word to Kouji. He tried to convince himself that he didn't really care, but it wasn't working as well as he had hoped.

Kouji looked over to Takuya and hid a smile as the other teen once again moved his hair away from his face with a huff of annoyance. Kouji didn't mind Takuya putting his hair up - it was cute in a way - but he always looked forward to seeing the brown hair down to frame Takuya's face. But, at the same time he sympathized with Takuya's frustration. He was fully aware of how irritating hair was at that length.

"Hey Kouji, would you let me ride your motorcycle?" Izumi asked. Kouji looked at her. He was caught between being concerned for the girl's health and his own at her behavior today. She had actually become...pleasant to hang out with, like she had been before they slept together.

"No," he answered automatically.

"Why not?"

"My baby gets jealous when girls ride her."

"I would think it doesn't like too much hair running through it's system," Junpei said, reaching forward and giving Kouji's hair a few tugs.

"Hey, she's trained to run with some of these dark locks running through her system," Kouji replied and moved his hair over his shoulder and away from it's attacker. He caught the small smile that appeared on Takuya's face. "Anyway, the bike I'm using is the one Tai gave me. It's best with only one person riding."

"Spoken like a true...whatever you are."

Takuya couldn't hold back laughing quietly at Junpei's comment. The three caught the laughter and looked over to Takuya.

"What's so funny?" Izumi asked, her voice harsh.

"That's probably the best description of Kouji I've heard in a while," Takuya replied.

"Who asked your opinion?" Izumi snapped. Takuya looked over to her and gave a light shrug.

"Nobody, sorry for interrupting," he replied calmly, causing Izumi to lose whatever she had prepared to say in response. She hadn't expected Takuya to be so dismissive of her attitude. She had been waiting for a sign of the shy classmate they all knew him to normally be. This was more like who she saw yesterday.

While Izumi tried to find and reassemble her wits, Takuya was having his own problems trying to figure out what possessed him to talk back like he had. _So much for staying out of it._

Kouji looked between the two, knowing already that he had missed something between Izumi and Takuya. Whatever it was had brought on Takuya's sudden rebellion to his normal attitude and Izumi's regression into a tolerable human being. He looked over his shoulder to Junpei who shrugged, then stood and walked over to Takuya.

"Hey Takky, you might as well join us. We can always use another person around to tease Kouji mercilessly," Junpei suggested. Takuya looked over to Kouji who gave him a grin. He then looked to Izumi, who was glaring at him.

"No thanks, it looks like I'm not entirely welcome."

"Sure you are, right Izumi?" Kouji said, fixing Izumi with a hard look, daring her to refuse.

"I never said I wanted him around, and I don't," she said, completely ignoring whatever threat Kouji's stare implied.

"Whatever problem you have with Takuya, you should just let it go. I want him around."

"Why?"

Kouji paused, thinking of what he should say. He suspected that Izumi saw Takuya as competition in winning his heart. He was getting so sick of people treating him like some accessory for the taking.

"Stop treating him like the enemy. He's my friend and I want him around, just like you are my friend when you aren't being a total bitch." Izumi gasped at his blunt words.

Takuya stood suddenly, drawing their attention. "It's obvious that the problem here is with me, so I'll leave." He briefly glanced at his watch, then grabbed his bag and walked to the door, the bell ringing to signal the end of school for the day. He maneuvered through the halls toward the art studio quickly.

Once he was within the studio, he sat down next to the window and let the sun shine down on and warm him. He loved being in the studio at this time of day. The sun filled the room, removing the shadows that invaded the corners of the room the rest of the day where the light didn't reach. The color of the walls combined with the light of the sun gave the room an etheral feel that didn't exist in other rooms of the school. Whether there were people in the room or not, Takuya always felt at peace with such beaty that could only be harnessed by nature.

The door opened and he glanced over to see Izumi walk into the room, followed by two other guys Takuya didn't recognize. They were about a foot taller than Takuya and outweighted him by at least 50 pounds each in fat alone, let alone muscle. They walked over to him and stood on either side of the chair.

"You're getting too bold for your own good, Kanbara," Izumi said. "Why don't you back off before you get yourself hurt?"

"I told you yesterday that I'm not between you and Kouji," Takuya replied, trying to keep the fear from his voice.

"But you love him, don't you? That's enough for you to get in the way."

"How exactly did you come to that conclusion?"

"Because whenever you're around him, your eyes have this light to them. Whenever you talk about him, you get this look of peace that is never there any other time."

"And that automatically puts me in love with him?" Takuya's mind was now racing, trying to convince himself that Izumi really didn't have a point.

"I know...because that's how I feel whenever I think of us together again. My mind is at peace and happy in a way that doesn't ever happen otherwise. I've waited too long for him to see me and I won't let you take my chance from under me."

Takuya looked at Izumi, watching her expression become sad. She was truly hurt by the thought of not getting to be with Kouji. _I don't know if I love Kouji or not, but she does and it wouldn't be fair to take something before she has a fair enough chance._

"Izumi, I can't tell you if I love Kouij or not. I may like him as a friend, or even have a crush on him, but that's it. It just doesn't occur to me that there could actually be something between us. But it's obvious that you already know how you feel. I say go for it. Just talk to Kouji and see what he says, and even if you don't like the answer, believe that something better will come along. You're only 17, after all. I'd hate to think that the love of your life will be some high school crush."

Izumi looked at him with startled eyes. She didn't expect him to just hand out advice like that. She had, in a way, hoped that he would give her an excuse to hurt him. She wanted him to be weak, not more sensible than her. But how could she bring herself to tell the brutes she asked to come along to hurt someone who had probably given her the best advise she could get, even if it was a pretty obvious action to take. "You weren't supposed to make sense," she whispered. Takuya couldn't help but turn slightly red at the statement. It was obvious that Izumi was struggling with the decision of what she should do mext, but Takuya believed she would do whatever she thought was right.

Izumi sighed and Takuya knew she had reached a decision. She looked up and her blue eyes met his dark brown ones. She took a few steps forward so she was only about a foot away from him. Without giving him a chance to react, she raised her hand and smacked him hard across the face. He placed his hand over the stinging flesh and looked at her in confusion. "Well, I definately feel better. I hurt you and didn't have to resort to needing these guys to do it," she said in explanation. She grinned as she turned and walked out the door, the two boys following behind her, giving each other confused looks.

"That is one strange girl," Takuya concluded shortly after the door closed behind them. "Maybe I should warn Kouji that I accidentally threw Izumi to his feet..." He thought it over before shrugging and deciding that Kouji could handle himself well enough, but at lease he would make the other teen aware of how serious the girl really was. Matbe that would help things along, one way or another.

* * *

Kouji wasn't very shocked to see Izumi waiting for him when he returned to his apartment after work. He had actually been sort of expecting the girl to work up enough guts to confront him seriously as to why he wouldn't date her again. He turned of the engine of his bike as she watched and removed his helmet before turning to face her. For a moment she didn't speak and he was tempted to just go inside to avoid the pointless waiting.

"Why don't you love me anymore, Kouji?" she whispered the question. "We've been close for years now and I've loved you longer than you can imagine."

"What's your point?" Kouji replied flipantly. "Sure, we've been friends for years, but why does that mean I have to love you?" Izumi stared at him, tears forming in her eyes slowly.

"Then why did you sleep with me?"

Kouji shrugged and started to walk past her. "You're the one who invited me into your bed. I never said or gave any indication that it was supposed to be something serious. It was an 'in the moment' sort of thing, nothing more. The sooner you get that through your head, the sooner we can both get on with our lives because that's exactly what I plan to do."

"Let me guess, with Takuya Kanbara."

Kouji paused for a few seconds before allowing a smile to spread across his features. "If he'll have me, I wouldn't really mind."

"Why him? I always knew you went both ways, but why with a guy like him? He's just some scared little kid that you usually wouldn't give a second glance to."

"Don't talk like you know him. He's an awesome person who, unlike everybody else, isn't out just for himself." Kouji reached the stairs that led up to his apartment and turned back to face Izumi, whose head was lowered and tears were sliding down her cheek slowly. "We aren't the perfect couple you envision, Zoey. It's about time you allowed yourself to love someone who will actually care about how you feel toward them, because I really don't."

"No, I guess you haven't for a long time. Was our friendship as false as whatever I thought could happen between us as well?"

"I'll leave that up to you. Like I said earlier today: you are a good friend when you aren't being a bitch."

Izumi actually smiled at that and sighed before responding slowny, "Then I wouldn't want to give up such a valuable friendship."

Kouji realized that Izumi's decision was driven by her hope that it could still grow to be more between them, but he didn't really care. As long as she didn't go out of her way to keep Takuya, or anybody else, away from him she could do and feel whatever she wanted. But he was also hopeful that her knowledge that nothing more would happen between them, she would allow her heart to try and fall for someone else.

"I'll see you tomorrow at school then," Kouji finished the conversation and started up the stairs. As he reached his almost empty apartment, he removed his coat and sunk onto his bed, his mind going over the conversation.

After a few minutes of mulling over the progression of the verbal exchange, Kouji realized that it had gone far too quickly and well for it to just be what the two of them said to get Izumi to give in so quickly. Her insistence of bringing Takuya into the discussion was enough of a hint to hold Kouji off until he could talk to the other teen, but for now, he thanked his classmate for whatever he had said to Izumi to get her off his back.

The idea of being more than friends - if that's what you could call their weird relationship - with Takuya had been bouncing around in Kouji's head for a while now and he was getting anxious to see if he really could get away with starting something like that with the teen. On the other hand, he didn't want to rush anything and cause Takuya to withdraw whatever trust had developed between them in the month they had been conversing.

Deciding that at least he could put something to rest with Takuya, he made plans to pay the brunette a visit either during or after school tomorrow.

"And all this started over a stupid map," he muttered before falling asleep that night.

* * *

Takuya's inability to begin the painting promised to Kouji was getting downright embarassing. Hoping that he merely needed a change of scenary, the teen had attempted to get started in the studio at school, but after five minutes and only a few shadows of pencil on the canvass, Takuya knew his lack of inspiration in starting the protrait wasn't limited to the location in which he drew it.

After realizing this, he changed the focus of what he was drawing and found another subject for his next portrait to bring to his room, which was already overflowing with pictures that needed someplace to go.

"How'd I ever guess that you would be here?" a voice instantly recognized as Kouji said from the doorway. Takuya rolled his eyes and added a few more lines of shading to the portrait.

"Not taking into consideration the fact that I come here almost every day after school, I have no clue," Takuya responded.

"You really need a change of pace."

"This coming from someone who is practically guaranteed to be found on the basketball court every day?"

"You got it!"

Kouji stepped fully into the room and moved to stand directly behind the other teen, his eyes looking at the pencil outline on the canvass in front of Takuya. "Let me guess the subject," he said, then paused until Takuya looked up to him. "'Beauty of the Faceless'?" In Kouji's opinion, it was a perfect name comsidering the picture was lacking nothing but a face. Takuya rolled his eyes again.

"I haven't decided what face to give it. It's true that I could leave it as it is and turn it into a completely different picture, but I don't like things without a face."

"Why not? Pretty much inanimate object doesn't have a face."

"People aren't inanimate objects. We are meant to have faces, no matter how beautiful or twisted they may be. This picture needs to have a face, even if it's just a mask to hide the nothingness."

Kouji looked from the picture to Takuya and back again. He leaned forward, studying the outline carefully, then turned back to Takuya. "Yours." At Takuya's questioning expression, he explained. "Put your own face on it. I'm sure it would be honored to be given such a beautiful face." Kouji smiled as Takuya's face went through the entire red color spectrum. "Make sure it has a smile too. There isn't much else in the world better than smiling for eternity."

"I'm sure there are better faces and smiles I could put on it. Besides, the body is quite a bit more bulky than I am."

"So what. Just think of it as how you would look if you weren't the slim shorty you are now."

Takuya sighed and looked at the portrait again. "Did you want something other than someone to tease?"

"Actually yes, though teasing you is enough to make anybody forget any original intentions. You're so fun to torture."

"I'm sure, now what do you want?" Takuya knew he was being a little snippy, but it wasn't the first time. He usually got short-tempered when Kouji or Junpei were particuarly insistent in their teasing about his size - or lack thereof.

"What did you say to Izumi to turn her back into a pleasant human being?" Kouji asked bluntly. So bluntly that the pencil in Takuya's hand fumbled through his fingertips and fell to the floor.

"Excuse me?" Takuya replied as he reached down and picked the pencil back up, but decided against attempting to continue on the portrait until the conversation was over with.

"She came to my apartment last night and actually agreed to not try to get between you and I in any way. Some of the things she said gave me the indication that she had talked to you."

"Yeah, she did talk to me yesterday after class. Apparently she had somehow got the impression that there was something romantic in our relationship. I simply told her that who you went out with was up to you and she couldn't force you to like her...or something like that."

"And she actually listened to you? I've been telling her that for months and she didn't get it." The prospect of Izumi listening to Takuya so easily while ignoring him irked him slightly.

"Bet you didn't say it like that though. Knowing you, it was more along the lines of 'I'm gonna go out with someone else, maybe next time'. She's not giving up, just laying off."

"I know that and that's honestly all I can as for without asking her to become a completely different person. She's still my friend after all. She really is a good person beneath the harsh exterior."

"Is that all you wanted?"

"You mentioned that I could go out with anybody I wanted, right?" Takuya nodded, his eyes studying Kouji suspiciously. "That includes you, right?" And Takuya's face turned bright red as he chucked the pencil in hand at Kouji in frustration.

"Give it a rest, you shameless heathen!" he yelled as he continued to throw random objects within his grasp. Seeing the barrage of incoming objects, Kouji took refuge behind the portait, which was enough to return sense to his attacker and to cease fire.

"I need to start travelling with an armed guard if you're gonna start throwing tantrums - as well as random objects," Kouji groaned.

"If you think it'll really help," Takuya replied coldly, but was beginning to find the situation humorous.

"But seriously, could you be considered available for me to ask out?"

The faceless portrait that had saved him from one attack didn't spare Kouji from the second onslaught of Takuya's assault.

"Were those pink hairs there yesterday?" Junpei asked as Kouji sat down at his desk the next morning. "Is that a few green strands I see as well?" he pressed as he leaned closer to inspect the normally only black strands of hair. Takuya glanced over to Kouji and grinned by way of saying how sorry he was. Sure, it was tough cleaning all the paint up, but seeing how many colors he had put into Kouji's appearance was worth it. Served him right for getting him so flustered twice without warning in less than five minutes.

Kouji sighed in frustration as he realized the seven washes he put his hair through still hadn't completely removed the paint. "Talk to a certain slim brunette about that. I'm sure a reasonable explanation could come from him. I, for some reason, can't imagine why he decided to douse me in every color in existence," Kouji replied with a glare to Takuya.

"I thought the brownish-black that was created from the mix would be an interesting change for you," Takuya replied good-naturedly.

"Only an artist would think that was actually a color. It looked like something you don't want to meet puked all over me."

"I'd say it came from the other end," Takuya whispered to Junpei, who had moved between them in an attempt to disuade the growing argument. Junpei tried not to laugh too loud.

"So what happened?" Junpei finally asked.

"A word of advise: don't ever suggest dating Takuya. He not only gets rather flustered, he has a tendency to throw everything available to prove how upset he is."

"It's just a reflex."

"Someone asks you out and you try to kill them?"

"I wasn't trying to kill you, merely proving a point."

"The only point I caught was from a pencil, which hurt FYI!"

"That tells us more about your density than my ability to get a point across!"

"You got your point across alright - all the way across the art studio!"

"Ah, a lover's quarrel," a voice spoke behind Junpei, who turned to see Izumi grinning at the two still arguing.

"You'd think they were already going out with this kind of bickering."

"Oh, shut up Junpei!" Takuya and Kouji broke off their "conversation" long enough to say. Izumi broke out laughing as the two turned back to each other and picked up where they had left off. Izumi and Jumpei looked around the class to see that everybody in the room had turned and were watching the exchange with amused interest. The two looked back at each other and burst out laughing, along with most of the class.

* * *

"Man, this morning was worth paying for," Izumi laughed as she looked out over the city from the roof of the school. Takuya watched her carefully. He was cautious to accept her request to talk to him during lunch break, but Kouji's statement that they had worked things out had driven him to accept. "You two sure know how to entertain a crowd."

Takuya's cheeks darkened slightly and he looked to the floor. "It's not something I'm going to make a habit of."

"You should and start charging admission fees."

"You want me to start charging people for coming into class on the chance that Kouji and I would argue?" Izumi grinned in response before her expression became more serious.

"You know, for a while I couldn't get why Kouji would be attracted to someone like you. But I think I got it figured out. You're stonger than you seem. Maybe not physically, but your brains are sharp, and you're big in here," she patted her hand over her heart and smiled gently, giving her a completely different appearance. "Kouji may put on a tough guy act, but he's actually one of the sweetest guys you will ever meet. It only makes sense that he would be able to find that trait in another, even if they don't see it themselves."

"His two best friends are proof of that," Takuya said in complete honesty. Izumo turned around and fixed him with a hard look.

"I'm giving him up. He's not going to really love me or he would already. But don't get me wrong: I'm not giving him up for nothing. I'm only giving him up on the condition that it's to you that he's given up for. You are the only one I see fit to give him what he needs, and that's true happiness."

"All this because of something I said a few days ago?" Takuya inquired, wanting to understand the drastic change in attitude.

"Well, that and the tri-colored hair he showed up with this morning. Kouji's hair is his pride and joy and you doused it in paint. If you can pull something like that on someone you care about, I would hate to see what you dish out to someone you don't like. Also, the fact that he didn't kill you about a thousand times over says a lot for his feeling for you."

Takuya sighed and walked up to the railing and let the wind play with the hair not secured with the rubber band. "I'm not sure how I feel about him though. It's true that I like hanging out with him. I actually enjoy his company, despite the constant teasing and nicknames that I can't stand. But those things and how I feel in reaction to them tell me that I'm really alive inside. I don't want to lose that."

Izumi observed him for a few seconds silently before smiling. "Then don't risk it and give him a try. I'm sure he'll have enough sense to respect whatever your decisions are in regards to him, but don't deprive both of you an opportunity just because you're unsure of yourself. Give yourself some credit; Kouji does."

Takuya crossed his arms over the railing and layed his chin on his arms, allowing his body to relax even more into the wind. "Whenever Kouji even slightly implies that we try it out, my brain goes nuts and I get all flustered."

Izumi tapped her finger on her chin thoughtfully a few times before shrugging slightly. "Then try not to think of it as that. Just think about it as hanging out with a very good friend, anything to keep your mind from getting flustered."

"What if he tries to kiss me? His reputation isn't exactly unheard of."

"Yeah, quite the contrary," Izumi admitted with a smile. "Just try not thinking about anything and let whatever happens happen. Anyway, if Kouji hasn't jumped your bones yet then I'm sure he can restrain himself until he's sure you're comfortable."

"Easy for you to say, you've had sex with him," Takuya couldn't keep from mumbling. Izumi shot him a cold look, which turned into a grin when Takuya's face turned red as he realized what he had said. "That delinquent is already having a bad influence on me."

"I noticed. Your mutterings are getting rather bold." Izumi turned toward the door leading back into the building when Takuya called out to her,

"Izumi, why are you doing this for me?" The girl remained still as she considered the question. "I mean, you hated me because of how close I am to Kouji, and now you're telling me how to be happy with him."

"Even someone like me knows when they've met their match. I just have enough sense to quit before I make some dangerous enemies. Some people wouldn't let go like I did. You need to watch out for those types. Those are the kind that don't know when to quit, even if it means someone getting hurt,"

"How do you expect me to deal with people like that? I'm barely taller than you and probably not that much tougher."

"Just make sure Kouji knows. He'll take care of you. He already does." She paused, then turned to face him again with the most serious expression he had ever seen on her. "And don't forget Junpei and me. We'll look after you as well."

Izumi didn't give him a chance to reply as she walked through the door and back into the building. Takuya turned back to look at the city once again.

_"I promise that I'll remain by your side and protect you, no matter what."_

The promise rang through Takuya's head and he sighed. He really didn't want whatever they had to just end when he finished the portait. Maybe Izumi was right and he just had to go for it with Kouji, whatever that implied.

"Maybe a change of pace is what I need," Takuya said quietly. "That is if Kouji doesn't try to kill me for throwing paint at him yesterday."

* * *

The bell rang to announce the end of the school day and Takuya quickly gathered his belongings and walked to the desk next to him and tapped Kouji on the shoulder to wake the teen up. Kouji mumbled incoherently then buried his face further into his arms to block out whatever was trying to rouse him. Takuya grabbed onto the teen's shoulders and began shaking him roughly, which instantly brought Kouji into an upright position. Kouji blinked to clear the sleep from his mind and looked up to Takuya, who was smiling.

"There are better places to sleep in the school than at your desk," he pointed out.

"But this is the only place I can get away with it," Kouji replied as he stretched his arms over his head.

""Try the roof. I've heard quite a bit of people get away with sleeping up there."

"I'll keep that in mind. Is it time to get outta here yet?"

"If it's not then the whole school's going to be in trouble for leaving school grounds."

"So, you wanna go get in trouble with me?"

"Doing what?" Takuya was slightly surprised at the lack of hesitation in his response.

"Doesn't really matter. We can go to the mall, or a club, or whatever comes to mind." About to respond, Takuya's eyes strayed to Kouji's paint spotted hair and he grinned.

"Don't you want to get the rest of the paint out of your hair?" Kouji brought his fingers to his hair and pulled some strands into his line of vision.

"Is it really that noticeable?" he asked grudginly. It was obvious that he didn't like the prospect of the stuff remaining in his black hair.

Takuya shrugged and moved closer so he could move Kouji's hair around in an inspection, ignoring the thougts that reflected on how soft the long hair felt. He couldn't help but laugh when he noticed how much paint was still in the teen's hair, but tried to make it not sound too bad when he replied. "You can always regrow your hair out." At the dark look Kouji pinned him with he laughed nervously and stepped back. "I'm just kidding. I have some shampoo at home that is great at getting paint out. And I'm talking the heavy duty oil paint I use, not the weak stuff I threw ar you. One wash and you'll never now it was even dirty."

Kouji snapped himself back to attention from where he had been in la-la land brought about by his senses being focused on Takuya being so close to him. He tried not to make Takuya uncomfortable so he would keep at a certain distance, but here Takuya was getting closer than they had been in a while. Having his hands all over - in Kouji's opinion - hair was a major bonus.

"Are you serious? One wash with that stuff can do what seven with whatever I use didn't?" Kouji was overjoyed at the idea of getting the invading paint out of his otherwise undamaged hair. His brain had begun plotting evil revenge on Takuya when he had suggested he cut if all off, but was now searching for ways to properly thank the teen if it worked. Unfortunately, he was certain most of the ideas would earn his hair a "crazy color" encore. Takuya had slung his backpack over his shoulder and was waiting for Kouji to follow.

"We can just go to the mall and pick a bottle up for you. It's advertised to actually help your hair grow faster, but I haven't noticed a change," Takuya explained as he gave a few strands of his own hair that wasn't secured with the ponytail low on the back of his head. Taking a chance, Kouji reached out and ran his fingers slowly through Takuya's bangs, pushing them away from the dark skin of Takuya's forehead.

"It doesn't do too bad keeping it silky clean though," he said with a grin and Takuya slapped his hand away with a huff of mock annoyance. Kouji gave an mental cheer that the mood hadn't become uncomfortable in the least and that meant Takuya wouldn't mind being too close to him anymore. As they walked toward the door, Kouji decided to take a shot at this revelation and suggested, "Let's take my bike then. It's a helluva lot faster than walking."

"Your bike? As in, your motorcycle that only rides on two wheels?" Takuya asked, coming to a stop. Kouji turned to face him with a smile.

"Motorcycles generally ride on two wheels, yes. Don't worry, I won't go too fast and I'll make sure not to let you fall off. Come on, I'm a racer. I know how to manage the weight of a bike, even if that weight is from another person."

"But you said you don't let others ride."

"So I changed my mind. Circumstances change, you know, and these circumstances call for my bike to deal with holding you as well as me. Don't worry, she's not as picky as I make her out to be."

"I kinda figured. I guess it's not such a bad idea, as long as you really do make sure to keep me on." Takuya finished and walked past Kouji, who was still getting over the fact that Takuya had actually agreed. "Well, you coming?" Takuya called back

"And Kouji scores!" the teen whispered as he turned to follow Takuya out of the school.

* * *

alright, therewe go. i cant believe how well this chapter wrote itself once i got going. i hope you guys enjoyed it. but for now -

**Review Replies:**

**TALA MINE-TALA HOT:** thanks for reviewing, here's the update.  
**takuya:** i didn't know that the dub voice of yamato andtakuya was the same and i never would have guessed. kudos to the voice actor. and im usually great at recognizing and matching anime voices.  
anyway, it hurts crashing into something going five miles an hour on a bicycle. i wouldn't want to know what 95 mph more would do. glad you enjoyed and thanks for reviewing.  
**Bonnie Mizuhara Asakura:** hopefully the ceiling was relatively clean. that would suckto blow the excitement by jumping into a cobweb or something. (where did that come from? okay, no more replies at 2:30 in the morning) i like izumi too and hopefully you do too after this chapter.  
**Shadow DarknessDragon:** oooooh, long review... i'm glad you ended up liking it so much. i like the random character trait revelations that i use. i love reading fics where other authors do to. it just gives the feel like you never run out of things to learn about them.  
i gotta say, nothing caught my amusement more than "for the love of mew" i cracked up when i read that and am right now writing it.  
you're like the fourth person to say how stupid the flame was, which just makes me laugh. whoever that person was sure didn't know the definition of a fanfiction or didn't read the summary. oh well, no harm done cuz i'm still here.  
hope you liked this chapter as well  
**oneontainternet:** thank you very much, especially since i was a little anxious about how good the last chapter was. here's the update, hope you liked.  
**Tanegaroa:** woo-hoo, someone else who says awesomest. that'll show my sister that it really is a word (insert evil laughter here) i did take my time on this story, and even went through it a few times. hope it was worth the wait.  
**sean's grrl:** YOU ONLY HAVE THE FIRST THREE! ooh, you are missin some major action of the later volumes. anyway, i loved the body lending, even though i won't play up to the modeling as much as the manga does. stay tuned, more takuya and kouji goodness to come  
**me-chan:** okay, itake you not liking the manga, but liking the story as so much more of a compliment. and i've never laughed harder about a flame either, so the reaction is mutual. don't worry, too many people like the story for me not to continue.  
**Largo-sensei:** there was no problem whatsoever with the flame. i - and obviously plenty of readers - have just had a big laugh at it. glad you enjoy the story  
**Crystal Ketchum Darklight:** yes they are so cute as a couple. and the update is served along with my thanks for reviewing. hope you like  
**Zeppelin:** yeah, its tough to keep takuya silent, which is why i had him act the way he did with izumi in this chapter. i made it this way because it was how i felt i could write well and it's working great though, despite complications of turning a regular boy/girl relationship into a yaoi.  
im keeping to the manga as much as possible, even if the timeline gets messed around, so even if something doesn't happen now thats in the second book, doesn't mean it wont happen at all. (which part of the second book particularly?) and masao is too big of a character to leave out, though people might kill me for who i've got picked out to represent him. i should have a contest to see who can guess...hmmmmmm...  
anyway, heres the next chapter. didn't have to wait long, did ya?

well, that's it for chapter 2 review replies. thank you all very much for reviewing and looking forward to seeing more from everybody.

see you next chapter.  
**Kimra Dattei**


	4. New Level

**Story Title:** Mars  
**Chapter Title:** New Level  
**Disclaimer:** I still don't own anything but some random ideas thrown in.  
**Warning:**This is YAOI. If you haven't gotten that point by now, I feel sorry for you.

yay! i finished chapter 4 and it took me only a little over a month to do it. it sure seemed like longer with all the stuff i've been up to. college semester started last week and im already finding most of my free time being taken up by homework, but i still find time to write, and i'll keep writing no matter what. anyway, i'll stop rambling and let you guys get on with the chapter. how many people actually read this?

* * *

**Chapter 4: New Level**

Kouji walked into the classroom and instantly sought out a certain brunette. He spotted Takuya talking with Junpei and Izumi - well, Izumi was talking at the moment, and the other two were trying to keep up with her seemingly inhuman ability at speed-speaking. He walked over to them and casually draped his arm around Takuya's shoulders.

"Good morning, Slim," he greeted. Having already become used to Kouji's sudden habit of random embraces, Takuya patted the other teen's hand hovering over his chest and sighed. Takuya had no idea why Kouji started it a few weeks ago, but he truly didn't care, as long as other people didn't suddenly develop that certain habit.

"Good morning, Kouji," he replied, as per their normal morning ritual.

"Normally we at least get a 'hi'," Junpei commented to Izumi. "I guess we truly don't matter to him any longer."

Izumi sighed dramatically and patted Junpei's arm in mock comfort. "We should have known this day would come, dear Junpei. After all, they are the hottest new couple in school.'

"More like the hottest odd couple in school," Junpei corrected.

"Don't people have to be going out to be considered a couple?" Takuya asked. Kouji mentally grinned as he wrapped his other arm around Takuya's chest and hugged the smaller teen to his body.

"Come on now, Baby, don't you think we should just tell people how much we truly love each other? I'm getting so tired of keeping it to ourselves," he chided. Takuya rolled his eyes as his cheeks darkened slightly. His hand moved to Kouji's once again, but instead of a kind pat, he pinched the limb as hard as he could. Kouji gave a short yell and pulled his arms away from Takuya as quickly as he could. Unfortunately for Kouji, this is usually what ended up happening when he started teasing Takuya in any way. The other teen was getting way too violent for his own good.

"Serves you right, Minamoto," Junpei said with a grin. "You just don't know when to quit."

"We all know Takuya really loves me. He just has a more violent way of showing it," Kouji replied as he sat down at his desk.

"Now there are two words I would have never put together: 'violent' and 'Takuya'," Izumi said.

"I try to keep you guys on your toes," Takuya replied with a shrug.

"That must be hard considering you're shorter than us," Kouji said, tempting a painful death once again. As it was, Takuya merely gave him one of his stone cold glares, which were also getting more threatening with practice. Kouji figured that he would have Takuya punching the lights out of bullies in no time at this rate, not that anybody had been bothering him much lately anyway.

"Do you two have anything planned after school today?" Izumi asked before Kouji could get himself into too much more trouble. As funny as the arguments between Kouji and Takuya were, there was simply no telling when the brunette would decide to go crazy and take her dark-haired friend's head off. "I was thinking we could go out tonight and just have all our weekend fun stuffed into one evening."

"It's Wednesday though," Takuya said, just in case Izumi hadn't realized that point yet.

"Yeah, who knew?" Izumi replied lightly, showing them that she knew exactly what day it was and simply didn't care.

"My point is that I don't how willing my mom will be to let me go out until undetermined hours of the early morning," Takuya explained. Izumi tried to pull off an innocent expression, but fell short on making it believable.

"Who says we'll stay out past ten?"

"Because I know you and you never return home before midnight."

"That was before going out included babysitting you."

"If you're done babysitting him, I'll take over for you!" Kouji exclaimed. A balled up piece of paper hit him in the arm and he looked over to Takuya, who was shaking his head.

"That job hasn't been available for like five years, so don't get excited."

Kouji put on a hurt expression as he turned back to Izumi. "You lied to me? How could you toy with me about something as important to me as that?" he pointed to Takuya as he finished his accusation making sure she knew what exactly "that" was. Junpei started laughing and Izumi wasn't far behind as Kouji continued to milk his non-existent pain. "Nothing would make me happier than to be wholly responsible for Slim's well-being and you only tease me for that."

"I'm sure you would be the best candidate for being 'wholly responsible' for Takky," Junpei quipped.

"Yeah, especially when it comes to bedtime," Izumi took over. She crossed her arms over her chest to hug herself and released an almost dreamy sigh. "I can just picture you laying him down onto his bed, tucking the covers around his body. Then you would kiss him goodnight..."

"Of course, checking to see if he brushed his teeth," Junpei added with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows, causing Takuya's face, which had been growing darker to flush deep crimson. He was convinced that almost all the blood in his body was coloring his face by now.

"Then I would take extra care to make sure he didn't get cold during the night," Kouji added with a vacant expression. He was brought back to reality by a thump to the back of his head, which was echoed to Junpei and Izumi, much to his delight. Rubbing the now sore spot on his head he grinned as the other two began exclaiming their objections to Takuya's assault. The brunette simply ignored them and sat at his desk with a satisfied expression. "I told you he was getting violent, but you two never listen to me."

* * *

Takuya buried his head further into his pillow as an annoying pounding echoed through the house. He sighed gratefully when it stopped and cuddled into the couch to return to dreamland. His decent was stopped once again by another round of knocks, which he promptly ignored. He hadn't been getting the greatest amount of sleep and he was finally able to reach the brink of sleep after returning from school. Staying out with his three sources of bad influence the night before at a dance club probably helped slightly. Either way, now that he was relaxed enough to sleep he was going to sleep, dammit!

Another round of louder knocking reached his ears.

On the other hand, one could only endure so much of a noise repeating until they had to stop it. Takuya figured that if whoever was going to leave, they would be gone already. Sighing, he rolled over, forgetting that he wasn't on his bed long enough to roll onto the floor with a painful thump. He groaned and rubbed his back, which had landed on one of his shoes. His half-asleep brain wondered why shoes seemed harder than wood when you landed on them. Another knock on the door stopped that pointless train of thought before it could go too far, thankfully, and he stood up and made his way to the door.

He turned the lock on the door, and turned the knob, preparing himself to scream the head off whoever was on the other side of the door. He didn't get very far though as the door remained closed. Looking down to the knob in his hands he realized what the problem was. His eye twitched with the realization that the door had been unlocked the whole time and he had simply just locked it. This was simply too much for his dead brain to handle and he let out a particularly beastly growl as he unlocked the door, turned the knob - nearly breaking it from the door in the process - threw the door opened, and yelled a "What?" to whoever was on the other side.

"Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Kouji's amused voice replied as he walked past the fuming brunette and into the house, toeing off his shoes in the entryway, and then turned to wait for Takuya to realize that he wasn't outside anymore.

"It was the couch," Takuya replied with a sigh and closed the door, giving the lock one final glare for good measure. Kouji had been leaning down to sit on the couch, but at that clarification, he straightened back up and moved toward the kitchen instead.

"I didn't need to sit down anyway." Takuya followed the teen into the kitchen to make sure he didn't take too much of their food. He had found out on Kouji's last visit to their kitchen that he had a habit of inhaling everything homemade that he found and Takuya's mom hadn't been pleased to return home that evening to find a nearly empty fridge. Deciding to get some food himself, he peeked over Kouji's shoulder for anything that caught his stomach's attention, not caring how close he stood to do so. When Kouji stood up straight, he bumped into the other teen, who blushed slightly and stepped back so Kouji could move away. Kouji grinned and brought his right hand up to run through Takuya's unrestrained hair.

"I need to visit you right when you wake up more often. You're quite the looker with a case of bed-head," he purred as he combed Takuya's hair out. Takuya felt his body relax again, which it always did whenever Kouji found a reason to play around with his hair. He couldn't help it, really. Kouji just seemed to figure out how to relax him. He didn't really mind that much though. He was actually relieved in a way that he could finally find comfort in another person's touch.

"How about a peek into your room?" Kouji suddenly said as he pulled his hand away and stepped toward the stairs. Takuya spun around, slamming the refrigerator door in the process, and ran to block Kouji's path.

"What ever made you think I would want you to see my room?" he exclaimed. Kouji grinned again and leaned onto the wall.

"I've been here a few times and you have yet to show me your room. I wanna see it."

"Why?" Takuya stepped toward Kouji and pushed on Kouji's shoulders. The other teen stumbled back a few steps before recovering his balance.

"Because I want to see what your room looks like. Come on, the worst it could be is dirty."

Takuya was going to reply but he paused as he realized that Kouji certainly had a point. Forgetting the reason he hadn't wanted Kouji to set foot in his room, he shrugged and stepped aside so Kouji could pass. Kouji did with a whoop and grabbed onto his wrist as he passed and pulled Takuya along with him.

Opening the door Takuya indicated to, Kouji stepped into what seemed like a completely different world from the rest of the house. It was slightly cluttered with art supplies, sketchbooks, and finished paintings. But within that clutter was something that Kouji could only describe as "uniquely Takuya". Kouji stepped further into the room and began looking through the piles of sketchbooks as Takuya walked over to his bed and fell into it, curling into the inviting comfort. He just wanted to go to sleep.

"The canvass is blank," Kouji's voice pulled him from his fall into slumber and he opened his eyes with a groan. He turned to where Kouji stood and froze as he realized what Kouji was looking at. He suddenly remembered why he had kept Kouji out of his room so diligently.

The sketch of the mother and child promised to Kouji sat on the still blank canvass where he had left it yesterday after another failed attempt to start the painting.

Takuya sighed and laid back onto his bed. This was not what he wanted to deal with right now - when all he wanted was sleep.

"It's been like three months and you haven't even started it?" Kouji's voice was disturbingly neutral as he spoke and Takuya couldn't help but be worried about where this would lead. He really didn't want Kouji to know why he hadn't been able to even start the portrait. "Takuya, why haven't you even started on it?"

"Because once I started, I would eventually finish it," Takuya blurted out before he could catch himself.

Kouji frowned at the confusing response. Takuya rolled over to face away from him and he sighed quietly in frustration. He was sure that Takuya didn't want to talk about this, but he was just plain curious now. Deciding to get this over with for Takuya's sake, he moved across the room to the bed. He raised his foot to the mattress behind Takuya's lower back and raised himself up and over the brunette, then situated himself so Takuya was facing him. The teen's brown eyes were closed and his body was tense. Realizing this, Kouji gave Takuya a short time to recover some control over himself.

"Slim, why didn't you do it?" his voice was stern and Takuya's eyes opened and met his in response.

"I didn't want..." he paused and Kouji answered an urge to touch the other teen. His hand rose to rest on the tan skin of Takuya's temple, tugging comfortingly on the hair beneath it. Takuya's eyes slid closed again and he sighed contentedly. "There isn't anything else to hold us together." Kouji's hand froze as he thought over the response.

"Why do you think that?" he asked in a whisper.

"You promised to protect me and stand by me in exchange for the picture. When I finish the picture, you won't have to stand by me anymore. I'm...afraid of when that'll happen."

Realizing how delicate the situation was, Kouji gave Takuya's hair a slight tug to get the teen's attention. Takuya's eyes opened and locked on him once again. "Why are you afraid of that? I thought you preferred silence and solitude." Kouji felt Takuya's body move closer to itself, the brunette curling up as much as possible with Kouji laying in front of him. "Please tell me, Slim." Takuya's expression molded into a soft smile at the nickname and he moved his face closer to Kouji's, stopping only when he could feel the heat from the other teen warming him.

"Because I don't care that you are in this bed with me, and I haven't felt that at ease with another person in a long time," Takuya whispered, obviously relaxing quickly. Kouji was sure he would be leaving soon to let the brunette sleep.

"Since the first time we talked, I've been unable to imagine life without you, Slim. I couldn't live with myself if I ever left you like that. I may joke around and tease you like there's no tomorrow, but I truly care about you." Kouji paused as he realized what he was saying. This was exactly the thing that could scare Takuya off. The brunette's eyes opened slightly, reflecting how close to sleep he really was. Deciding to take a risk and hope for the best, Kouji continued, "I actually want to really be with you, and not just sexually." He gave a short laugh. "Actually, I haven't even considered what it would be like being with you past kissing. Anything more than that just makes me feel like some sort of animal."

"Well, if the boot fits," Takuya mumbled with a smile.

"You can stop hanging out with Izumi, though," Kouji replied, but mirrored the smile. Being unable to hold himself any longer, he closed the distance between them and pressed his lips gently to Takuya's. He felt Takuya's breath hitch, but it wasn't long before the teen responded with by bringing his hand up to Kouji's chest and pressed back slightly.

The kiss was brief, nothing deep, but when Kouji pulled away, he felt more satisfied than he ever had with anyone else. Takuya's hand was clutching his shirt over his heart and the brunette was completely still. Kouji brought his hand, which hadn't moved from Takuya's temple, around the teen's head and pulled Takuya against him.

"We'll work this out later. You're tired and need to get some sleep," he said and breathed in Takuya's scent.

Takuya gave a soft snort before replying, "Right, like I could actually sleep right after you did something like that."

A few minutes later both teens were asleep.

* * *

Okay, something was definitely up with Kouji and Takuya and not knowing what it was was doing a fabulous job of ticking Izumi off. After all, she was Izumi Orimoto. Her nose was always too deep in other people's business.

Well, that and whatever was going on just made things in their little group just plain weird.

It had happened practically overnight. But it was so random and weird that only Izumi and Junpei would know the two well enough to know something was wrong. It wasn't really a big thing to everybody else, but the two closest to Kouji and Takuya knew how big it really was. This "something off" usually came up whenever the two were sitting close to each other - which was just about all the time - it would be like they realized how close they were and they would go quiet and shuffle further apart. It had been dismissed at first, Izumi and Junpei deciding that the two would work it out on their own. But three weeks of this later, the two friends decided to get the story from the two troublemakers and try to find a way to fix things.

This was decided almost a week ago and they were still clueless.

Blame for how long it went on going to the underestimation of Kouji and Takuya's evasion skills. Honestly, Izumi - who was originally assigned to "20 Questions with Takuya Kanbara" - never thought that boy could disappear as many times as he did once she was on his trail. Never one to accept that Takuya had caught onto their plans in less than a day and no questioning, Izumi chalked it up to bad luck on her part and actually knowing the layout of the school to Takuya doing so well of avoiding her.

Junpei had nearly strangled her when she told him this.

Not that he had much better luck with Kouji. Their black-haired motorcycling friend took to showing up at the last minute before class started, found a great hiding spot for breaks that Junpei had yet to find, and flew out of the class at the end of school to race off onto the streets.

After a week of failure, the two decided to switch targets. Sure, Izumi had more experience dealing with Takuya, but she was better at tracking Kouji down. She just didn't know Takuya as well as she knew Kouji. Besides, there were places Takuya could hide himself that Izumi couldn't go and Kouji would consider refuge in the bathroom too original, and originality was nothing he would go for in this lifetime.

It was only the second day of being assigned to Kouji when she caught him on the basketball court during lunch. He was shooting hoops and didn't even notice her storm up to him. She walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to see her blue eyes burning into him and her hands on her hips. He stumbled back with a yelp of horror. On one hand, he couldn't believe Junpei had suck Izumi on him, and on the other, Izumi was freaky when really pissed.

"What the hell is going on between you and Takuya Kanbara?" she demanded, not giving Kouji a chance to distract her from her goal. He had a knack for being good at that.

"His full name isn't required. I only know one Takuya," Kouji replied evasively, Izumi's glare hardened and Kouji knew he would have to watch his sarcasm if he wanted to come out of this with all limbs intact. Knowing Izumi, she would go straight for the important limbs.

"With the way you two have been acting towards each other, I wouldn't be so sure of that. If you ask me you look like ex's trying to go on as if nothing's wrong when it's obvious there's a major problem."

_That actually ain't far from the truth,_ Kouji realized but kept it to himself. He didn't want to find out how protective of Takuya Izumi had become the hard way.

That was one thing that he respected Izumi for: it was hard to earn her care and respect, and damn near impossible to get rid of it once it was given. She also tended to become more protective than you could imagine humanly possible. Kouji had no doubt that Izumi was doing a great impression of a mother hen for Takuya with how close they had become. That was also why he especially didn't want to talk about their problems with her. He could handle Junpei's interrogation, only avoided his friend because he wasn't ready to admit his mess-up to his best friend. Now he was stuck with admitting it to the one he hoped would handle Takuya.

Kouji made a mental note to inform the school and his family of Junpei's unavoidable demise.

"Kouji Minamoto, I didn't give up chasing your ass for you to screw it up with the person I handed it over to."

"Since when is where my ass goes up to you?" Kouji was actually slightly offended at how Izumi had put that.

Izumi actually appeared to think about for a short time before answering. "Okay, that wasn't what I meant. With the way you've been acting, it's getting difficult to discern your heart from your ass."

_That hurt._ "Look Izumi, didn't it ever occur to you that if I wanted to talk about it I would have already?"

"Of course it did, but I know you too well. If you don't bring it up right away you don't intend to ever. You live in the moment and in people's faces without shame or regret."

"Well, I've definitely got something I regret now," Kouji muttered before he could stop himself. Realizing his slip, he looked up to see the triumphant grin on Izumi's face. Now he knew any hope of getting out of this had just taken a trip to America.

"Finally we're getting somewhere. I thought we'd be butting heads for at least half an hour before you caved." She was get cocky now - something that always got her in trouble.

Then again...Alaska was part of America and wasn't that far away. His hope of escape just might decide it didn't like America after seeing the crazy breed of humans that lived there and would double-time back to him.

"Well, since we're past butting heads and I've admitted to there being a problem, can you give me a little more time to try and fix it on my own?" To the point, not evasive, submissive tone, in the form of a request...it met all the requirements for Izumi's weird guidelines to dropping a conversation. He even threw in what he hoped was a promising expression for good measure.

"Not on your life."

Never mind a stop in America, his luck had went right to a vacation in the Bahamas and it wasn't coming back anytime soon.

"Just tell me and get it over with. It's not like you'll die if you tell me about it. The threat of death comes with not obliging within the next five minutes."

Kouji sighed as he realized he would rather live through the day and gave her the shortest version he could think of.

"So I went to Slim's house after school a few weeks ago. I woke him up and we were talking. He's so hot with his hair all messed up, by the way. Anyway, we went up to his room because I hadn't seen it yet and he couldn't come up with a good enough reason to keep me out. I found out that he hadn't started on the painting he promised me and asked him why not. He said he didn't want me to not have a reason to be with him. So I got in bed with him, told him that I wouldn't leave him, and then kissed him. Now I'm all nervous that I pushed too hard and just can't work up the guts to talk to him about it."

Well, it was intended to be short.

Izumi was silent for the longest time, which was a miracle in itself, and Kouji was getting anxious about what her response would be. He fully expected a whack upside the head for being a big dimwit or a scolding for messing up with Takuya. What he received instead was an earful of her laughter.

"That's seriously it?" she asked around her laughter. To put it politely, Kouji was insulted. It seemed like she expected him to have tied Takuya to the bed and screwed him. After considering that he was Kouji Minamoto and didn't have a reputation for taking things slow, he realized he wouldn't really have a defense if he decided to argue any opinion Izumi came up with. So, always one to take things in stride, Kouji remained silent and waited for Izumi to laugh herself out. It was a long wait. When she finally began quieting down, Kouji had sat on the ground and had his head resting on his hands, which were propped on the ground.

"Are you finished yet?" he asked.

"Can you really blame me? I can't believe you are actually freaking out about a measly kiss," Izumi said, getting a grasp on her amusement.

"Yeah, neither can I. It wasn't even anything really elaborate, but at the same time it was just so hot."

"So if it was so hot what's the problem?"

Kouji sighed and laid back on the ground facing the sky. "I really like him Izumi," he admitted. "I seriously care about him. But because it's him I'm totally freaked out about talking to him about it."

"What do you mean 'because it's him'? Takuya's a great person. I can't see him turning your care down." Great person or not, Izumi was close to betting everything she owned on Takuya being in love with Kouji. He was just too uncertain with himself to bring it up with Kouji.

"That's not what I'm worried about. Takuya is...well, he just has such a hard time dealing with people I can't help but worry about how well he would take a relationship. I guarantee that if I wasn't just so impulsive, I would never even touch him."

"So what are you really freaking out about?"

Kouji had been half-expecting a question along those lines and had been trying to find an answer, but was still coming up empty. "I don't know," he replied in a mumble.

"Well I do." Izumi said as she gave him a rather egotistical manner, but became serious faster than he thought possible. "You said it yourself: if you weren't you things would be completely different between you two. But you obviously haven't considered that the same may go for Takuya. You've been so caught up with your own freaking out that you haven't realized that if it wasn't you he wouldn't have let it happen."

"But I have no way of knowing if he wants to take it any farther and I couldn't take him rejecting me."

"Has it even crossed your mind that he may just be waiting for you to give him the chance to be with you? He's incapable of taking the initiative when it comes to other people."

"But when it comes to him, so am I."

Well that was unexpected, Izumi noted. She had never known Kouji to be this unsettled and that freaked her out. But it also revealed to her how serious Kouji was about keeping Takuya in his life.

"Well, I can't speak for Takuya because I haven't talked to Junpei yet and don't know what Takuya's feeling right now for sure. But I do know Takuya as a friend and would guess that he's getting worried that you did something you didn't mean to and you won't want to be around him anymore for lack of comfort that was their before. I think that if you want to fix this you need to talk to him and reassure him that you aren't going to leave him. That way you can stop acting weird and still take whatever time you need to get your crap together."

Izumi had a good point and Kouji was embarrassed that he had been so caught up with himself that he hadn't considered that Takuya may be freaking out for a completely different reason. Now that Izumi had pointed it out, he knew that making sure Takuya knew he wasn't going to leave him was a top priority. Come to think of it, that was the subject that had brought Kouji to kiss him in the first place.

"And this is why I don't like talking to Junpei about this kinda stuff. He wouldn't get why someone who's screwed around so much could possibly get worried about kissing someone. That and we would just end up insulting each other."

"Well, you haven't slept with him so there's no way he could know how good you are in bed."

"That and he's still a virgin."

This was news to Izumi, and she couldn't wait to dig deeper into her friend's personal life. That is, after all, what Izumi Orimoto does.

* * *

Takuya sighed as he fell back onto the grass of the park. Evasion of his friends was exhausting and he was ready for a break. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to them about what the problem between him and Kouji was. He just didn't think they would really understand. Well, Junpei wouldn't for sure - Izumi might since she had dug as far into his personal life as he would allow and had known Kouji for a long time. Unfortunately that meant she could guess his hiding places easily and many days he was stuck locking himself in the bathroom.

It was obvious that Izumi had gotten too frustrated with tracking him down because when school let out, she ran right past him after Kouji. Takuya was just lucky that Junpei was in a different classroom for the last period of school or he wouldn't have had a chance of escape. He had left the school as quickly as he could and made his way to the park since he didn't feel like returning home yet.

The park was always calming for Takuya. Just being surrounded with the life and energy of nature was all it took to calm his aggravated nerves and he could just let his thoughts flow freely. Feeling relaxation already flow through him and sighed contentedly as his eyes slid closed. It was strange how easily he could relax lately. Usually this was the only place he could find true peace with himself, never mind with the rest of the world. But lately his nerves had seemed to suddenly found peace whenever he looked hard enough. For the past few years it had seemed like he couldn't breathe without getting anxious. He had tried everything he could to appear like nothing was wrong, but never really made it believable. Any friends he had at the time eventually gave up trying to find out what had changed him from the person he once was and left him to his own world.

Takuya knew that there was always something about him that kept him separate from everybody else. No matter how hard he tried to be like everybody else, he never could get it right. It wasn't really something horribly bad, just something different. He didn't really have a hard time making friends through his early school years. It was actually relatively easy for him to find someone to hang out with. But that's all it was: hanging out. There wasn't any deep personal connection between him and the people around him. They were simply people he got along with who didn't hurt him. This also meant that he didn't trust people with his problems, which were always locked up inside him past the point of when he needed to bring them out. He eventually began cutting ties with his social circle and secluded himself from most of the people he once called friends. What happened almost five years ago now was the final straw, pulling him completely away from the last people he had kept a hold on and made him who he was today.

Takuya's mind wandered back to his actual personality back then. He was outgoing to an extent, and he had always had a sign of shyness around new people. But those who knew him well could claim to him being one of the most energetic individuals they knew. Takuya had always been able to find the aspects of life that made every day worth getting up for and he later found that just being around him could help others see it as well.

Takuya's eyes opened slowly and he sighed again, this time there was sadness in the release.

He found it ironic that something so seemingly simple and insignificant could change everything about a person.

Not even an hour out of one night had brought him to where he was now: alone, afraid, and sometimes ready to just give up getting up in the morning. He was sure that if something brought him down enough, he would simply give up breathing and suffocate.

Something like Kouji leaving him alone again.

Another simple thing that would take everything he had going for him away. He had finally found something to look forward to, something out of the ordinary, something that could bring life back into living for him if nothing else. It was frightening how much Kouji had come to represent in such a short amount of time.

Switching gears to focus on Kouji, Takuya's mind went back to the kiss. It was crazy how much that small action had changed things between them. Kouji had said that he wouldn't leave Takuya 'cause it was just so unimaginable to live without the brunette in his life, but now they hadn't really talked in almost two weeks. That was the same as leaving him in Takuya's mind. No, it was worse. When there was so much unresolved between them it was just wrong to be around each other.

Takuya knew Kouji was confused and upset about something. That much was apparent through his actions, but what wasn't obvious was what exactly the other teen was confused about. If he was confused about his feelings, then Takuya would gladly give him the time he needed to work everything out. It would be wrong to press Kouji to anything and Takuya couldn't do anything of the sort to the other teen. He just cared too much...

As Takuya thought over this he finally came to a decision that he could finally admit what he really felt.

"I love him," he whispered, feeling that confirming it aloud would be more effective on his own brain. "I really do love him and can't live without him. How could I let it happen?"

Takuya sat up as his mind came to one more conclusion. Whatever problems there were between him and Kouji now because of that kiss had to be solved right away, and he knew how to do it. He stood up, grabbed his backpack from the ground a few feet from where he had been laying, and walked in the direction of his home.

He had a promise to fulfill.

* * *

well that's that. i was considering continuing, but this felt like the perfect place to end it. okay, now how many of you would have slaughtered me if i stopped the chapter right after the kiss? (even though im sure i'm tempting fate ending it where i did. what can i say, cliffies may be annoying, but that's what make a story good.)

anyway, onto the **Review Replies:**

**TALA MINE-TALA HOT:** well, i can definately update and here it is. i love the paint too. that was among my "laugh everytimei read over it" parts. hope you enjoyed.  
**sean's grrl:** i'll keep in mind that you like that particular part when i get around tothe racing. i actually didn't expect it to take me this long to get around to it. hopefully it'll work itself into the next chapter. even now, the muses are coming up with something good. hope you liked this chapter.  
**silverkaze013:** hope i hurried enough. believe me, i wonder what's coming as well. enjoy!  
**takuya:** if you liked chappy 3's fluff, i'm sure you'll die for the fluff to come. thanks for reading.  
**The New Shinigami Hikari:** yay! i love muffins! i loved writing the paint fight. i had to randomly stop writing because i was laughing so hard i was getting ahead of myself. i don't like izumi being a total bitch in fanfics so i was determined to make her cool in my own. hope you enjoyed.  
**Shadow DarknessDragon:** i'm glad you like this and Two Worlds of Magic. sorry to say that TWoM is currently on hold becuase of lack of ideas on it. i accidentally wrote myself into a corner and decided to leave it alone for a while in light of working on this. i blame reading the 6th book. i actually didn't like it as much as the other books, so i gotta find inspiration elsewhere.  
that's one long review for your record. i would have loved to see that. anyway, thanks for reviewing and hope you enjoyed.  
**Bonnie Mizuhara Asakura:** everybody join the chant KOUKUYA FOREVER! now that that's outta my system, thank you much for reviewing and hope you liked this chapter as well.  
**Redrum:** yeah, i don't like the rushing of the relationship. that's why i made a point to tell how much time had passed in this chapter. thanks for reading.  
why would your account be deleted for replying to reviews? thats just crazy.  
**Largo-sensei:** if last chapter was Kouji's birthday with the fluffyness, what's this chapter for him? don't worry, we all get carried away at times. enjoy!  
**Ayamari:** glad you like it! thanks for reviewing.  
**Nathanelle:** overdramatic gasp YOU DIDN'T REVIEW! HOW DARE YOU! i don't know if i can forgive you so easily. oh, your on you knees begging? well, i'll let it slide this time.  
im just kidding. i know it can be rough to keep up reviewing since i have that problem as well. i'm just glad you like it so much.  
to be honest, im really having to restrain myself here to keep kouji from being glomped, but its too important to me to keep the characters believable. giving an insight into takuyas personality before the story was a way of doing that and i hope i got that across well.  
anyway, thank you again for reviewing and for the compliments. hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.  
**Dragi:**no problem. it's beena while since i read your stuff, but ive enjoyed what you come up with. don't get on dragi's case too bad, i always forget meals. hope you all liked this chapter and im glad you like it so much.  
**Rakira:** im glad you like it, but im sure any advice you offer can't be worse than some of my muses throw at me.  
**LZfOx1379:** wow, that's a jumble of a name. i want sugar. don't cry! here's the next chapter for you enjoyment.  
wow, that was a jumpy reply.  
**Tsukiakari-hoshi:** i like how takuya is in the series (except for the whole not being with Kouji thing) but im getting attached to his personality in this fic also. it makes it easy to write him.  
**SnakeMistress:** im glad you like it, and hope you enjoyed this chapter. thanks for reviewing.  
**Lady Lemonade**, oops i mean, **Ko-Ginji:** why did you change your name? i've known you by that name for so long and now you throw this at me? (well that was rather selfish) i love your work and practically tore down the house celebrating when i saw what name was on the review.  
anyway, could you show me where i can find holy flippin' skittles? they sound fun.  
as far as i know (and ive looked extensively) they haven't made an anime out of Mars, though that would be so cool. as for the skinny-dipping, it's definately going to find its way in now that you requested it. if there's another part that you particularly want to see, just let me know and i'll try my best to work it in.  
im glad that kouji's personality is working for you. in another reply i mentioned that making characters believable was very important. well, desriptions are just as important. (another reason i love your stories so much, great descriptive work there) i'm sure the descriptions enjoy the attention and so does the story.  
thank you so much for reading and reviewing. hope you like this chapter as well.

well, thats it for this chapter.  
see you all next time, time for bed  
**Kimra Dattei**


	5. Perfect Vision

**Story Title: **Mars  
**Chapter Title:** Perfect Vision  
**Pairing:** Kouji/Takuya  
**Chapter Word Count:** 3,182  
**Disclaimer: **Digimon is not mine.  
**Warning:** This story is really officially YAOI now. I really shouldn't have to tell anybody this now.

okay, this is the real chapter five and i truly am sorry not only for the wait, but also making the update i did post not be the real chapter. even now i'm feeling kinda bad about how short this chapter is, but the next part would have ended up leaving it in an even worse place and i'm sure you guys can do with one less cliffhanger. anyway, on with the story finally.

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 5: Perfect Vision**

Kouji's body landed onto his bed with a heavy thump and he stared blankly at the ceiling of his small apartment. The place was a little on the dingy side and was nearly bare, except for a mattress and phone, but it did have a shower that was warm almost all the time, a small kitchen, and a locked garage for all his bike equipment.

All that and it was cheap as hell since the owner was a friend of Tai and Yamato.

He just wished he could find some way to distract himself from the problem at hand: just what should he say to Takuya without making it sound like he didn't think the kiss was a _complete_ mistake. Sure, in Kouji's opinion, the timing really couldn't have been much worse, but he also believed that after what he had said, kissing Takuya so simply just seemed to validate what he had said to the brunette. And waking up about an hour later with Takuya wrapped within his arms made him question if he was truly awake. The euphoria faded quickly enough though as reality hit him and he had left quickly and quietly before Takuya had a chance of waking up.

Looking back, Kouji realized that it probably hadn't been the best course of action. No wonder Takuya had been so aloof with him the next morning at school. He probably hadn't helped by pretending nothing had happened because of Junpei and Izumi's presence.

Damn hindsight for being 20/20. He could've used that info before he made one stupid mistake after another, like avoiding someone he cared deeply about for weeks on end.

His cursing of hindsight was abruptly cut off as a knock on the door echoed through the room. He glanced over to his alarm clock to see that it was almost 9 o'clock. His thoughts had been practically going in circles for almost 3 hours now and he hoped a distraction would help him find whatever answer his brain was depriving him of. He stood up with a stretch and strolled to the door. He unlocked the deadbolt and pulled the door open to reveal the one person he had hoped not to have to face for at least another twelve hours.

_So much for the distraction,_ he thought abruptly.

"Slim, what are you doing here?" he asked out-loud, then realized something else worth asking. "How did you know where I lived? You've never been here and I've never given you the address."

"I decided that I needed to talk to you about three weeks ago. So I asked Izumi for the address and Junpei helped me find the place when I told him I had absolutely no clue as to how to get here," Takuya's smooth and gentle voice replied as he stepped into the apartment and removed his shoes.

"So why didn't he escort you to the door?"

Takuya stood up straight, but his eyes remained lowered. "I told him that we wouldn't need his help anymore for the night." Kouji just shrugged and walked back into the apartment with Takuya a few steps behind. The black-haired teen returned to his seat on the bed and looked back up to Takuya and waited for the brunette to kick things off.

In a way, he was relieved that Takuya had taken the initiative in coming here, but he was also kind of curious as to why he had shown up now. According to Izumi, neither she nor Junpei had talked to the brunette so they couldn't have said anything to guide him to some emotional epiphany like Izumi had somewhat managed with Kouji. Well, he'd just have to wait and see.

Takuya sighed after a few minutes of tense silence and his legs folded slowly beneath him and he moved to sit on the floor with his knees against his chest. "I really meant to keep our promise. Companionship for some painting didn't seem like that big of a deal at the moment, especially when I didn't really mind who the companionship was coming from. But every time I sat down to keep my end of the bargain, I just started asking myself what else was holding us together. I know I said this already, but it's still as true now as it was before."

"Fair enough," Kouji added, not only to let the brunette know that he was listening, but also to make sure Takuya knew that he was in charge of the conversation.

"Today, even with things the way they are between us, I decided to try one last time on the portrait. I decided that if I couldn't do it today, then I wouldn't try again. As an artist, I know better than to try and make something work when my heart isn't in it. It only took me a few minutes to realize the reasons why I couldn't do this for you.

"First of all, the original drawings, as heart-felt as it was, wasn't something I really put myself into. It was just another sketch among thousands. When I put something on a canvass, it's because it was something that caught my heart and not just my artistic eye. That's the difference between sketches and real art, at least to me. So because there was nothing really there to connect my heart to the work, I couldn't give you something that would just be a disappointment."

"I wouldn't have been disappointed by it, no matter how bad you would claim it to be," Kouji replied honestly.

"But _I_ would have been disappointed that with all my talent I would give something without my heart in it to someone who means so much to me." Kouji couldn't find an answer so he stayed silent as Takuya steeled his nerves to continue.

"The other reason was that I was ashamed of myself." Kouji's eyes narrowed in confusion as he lowered himself to from the bed to the floor so he was at Takuya's level and could see his face more clearly. The brunette's cheeks were tinged rid, but his brown eyes were shining with determination. "I allowed myself to believe that the only reason we got where we were a few weeks ago was because of a stupid sketch. When you told me that you couldn't imagine life without me I realized that I felt the same way. I didn't know I had realized it, but it just hit me today."

"So is that why you stopped by?"

"To say that and to break off whatever we have going on right now."

Kouji could have sworn that his heart had shut down and it was only a matter of time before he keeled over dead. "What?" he managed to squeeze out through his constricted throat.

"Whatever our relationship is right now was started in the wrong way and it shouldn't go on the way it is. We're only getting hurt and I don't know how much more I can take."

Kouji was about to object very loudly when Takuya reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheet of folded paper. He straightened it out silently and showed it to Kouji: it was the sketch that had started everything. The plastic covering that Yamato had placed it in had already been removed and the brunette turned it over to look at the rough map he had drawn on the back. He then turned it back over to look at the picture that displayed the unique love of a mother and her child.

"It may have just been a sketch, but everything I draw is a part of me. Keep that in mind." That being established, Takuya turned the paper sideways and ripped it in half, turned it again and tore through it again, and then the process was repeated a third time. He sighed as he set the pile of shredded paper on the floor and moved to his hands and knees and crawled slowly over to a stunned Kouji, who still hadn't been able to get past Takuya destroying the picture.

Takuya reached Kouji and sat back on his legs and locked his gaze with the other teen for a few seconds before he extended his right hand. Kouji looked between the tan-skinned hand and brown eyes silently a few times trying to determine exactly where this was going.

"What's that for?" he finally had to ask when his mind drew a blank.

Takuya rolled his eyes and laughed softly. "I'm Takuya Kanbara. People usually call me Takuya, but I have been known to answer to Takky and Slim, depending on who's asking."

"Right, Slim, and I think you might have just lost whatever sanity you still had left after meeting me."

"Damn you can be really stupid sometimes," Takuya muttered, earning a shocked look from Kouji for the profanity. "Don't you get it? Without some dumb arrangement to start us off, we can just be ourselves and go wherever we want to go with each other. There are no limits to what we have going on besides what we agree on along the way."

Kouji couldn't take his eyes off the other teen. Takuya was just so…

"…Unbelievable," he whispered, then reached out to take Takuya's outstretched hand and grasped it tightly. Instead of shaking it, like Takuya was offering, he pulled the brunette forward, catching him before he completely fell on him, and leaned forward to place a quick kiss on his soft lips. "You can consider that fair warning as to where we might just find ourselves without these limitations." Takuya's face flushed red and his eyes lowered to Kouji's chest in order to avoid his eyes.

"Whatever happens, I can't wait."

* * *

"Hey, Izumi, how can you know for sure if you're on cloud nine or not?" Kouji asked his blonde friend, his tone completely serious, but his eyes held an almost whimsical tint to their blue-grey shade. Izumi looked at him suspiciously as she tried to guess why the question had suddenly come up. After all, Kouji Minamoto wasn't normally one to go for that sappy "cloud nine bull" he was asking about.

Deciding that she wouldn't know unless she asked, Izumi replied with, "What brought that on? You feeling alright there Kouji?"

The deep sigh that came from her friend almost made her want to check to see if this was some evil twin impersonating her friend. The sigh had sounded like it was coming from someone caught up in a really good dream. "I just can't think of any way else to describe what I'm feeling right now."

"I take it you talked to Takky then," Junpei concluded, deciding to risk joining the conversation.

"I let him talk and just went with the flow. He does pretty good when he takes the initiative on something. Now if only I could get him to do it more often, that whole mess we made out of the last few weeks wouldn't have happened."

"I think we should limit recklessness to your side of the relationship, Kouji. That's enough to exhaust anybody," Izumi declared. "And as for the whole "cloud nine" thing, its for everyone to decide for themselves where it is. It's just an easy way of saying that you can't imagine things being any better than they are."

"Insightful," Junpei remarked.

"Why not just say 'things don't get much better than this'?" Kouji asked. "It's gotta be a girl thing 'cause this guy don't get it."

Junpei had to say he agreed with that statement completely but decided to get them back on a subject of actual relevance. "So, dare I ask what went on between you two after I left Takky on your doorstep?"

"No, you dare not," a soft but definitely demanding voice came up behind Junpei and he jumped up from his desk with a yelp. Takuya grinned at the reaction and walked past the panting teen to his desk behind Kouji.

"Dammit, are we going to have to put a bell on you or something?" Junpei yelled, getting an even wider grin from the brunette in response. "Just our luck, he'd find a way to move quietly even with a bell around his neck. The guy's too damn light on his feet."

"Language, Junpei," Takuya scolded teasingly. "Profanity does nothing but show a lack of imagination in finding your own words."

"But it's so much more effective and nobody has to ask what you mean when you cuss at them," Kouji defended his own habit of cussing. Anyway, he didn't believe Takuya had the right to say anything since he had heard the brunette use profanity himself now.

"Then it should be reserved for situations serious enough that cussing is more appropriate than anything else." Kouji considered sulking as he realized that Takuya had just beat him to the point he had been working up to. "By the way, Junpei, thanks for showing me to Kouji's apartment last night. I know I kinda just pushed it on you."

Three sets of eyes blinked in confusion at the sudden change of topics before Junpei shook his head and waved off the gratitude. "Ah, don't worry about it. You saved me from having to play counselor to you this time around."

"I'm sure that's best for all of us," the brunette replied, getting a snicker from Kouji and a giggle from Izumi. "Anyway, I'm sure you guys are just thankful that you don't have to deal with Kouji's PMSing for the time being."

"Me?! Hey, I'm not the one who conveniently disappeared all the time," Kouji retorted indignantly.

"I wasn't the one who made a big deal our of nothing but my own insecurities. I just went along with your flow until I got tired of all the stress it was putting us through. Who knows how much longer this would have went on if I hadn't have approached you."

"Well, actually…" Izumi attempted to dissuade the upcoming brawl between her friends. It wasn't the first time this had happened: Takuya would say something more or less innocent that Kouji would blow out of proportion and the two would verbally duke it out until either Junpei or Izumi broke them up, or Takuya would prove his point in such a blunt manner that Kouji would clam up and sulk until the end of class. After that things would be back to normal, except for the victorious/smug shine to Takuya's eyes. Izumi was almost embarrassed to admit that Kouji had yet to win an argument with Takuya that started in this manner.

_Looks like the score is about to be evened out to Kouji:0 Takuya: 30._

And it wasn't even a matter of Kouji just letting Takuya win because he liked him.

"Ugh, this is so stupid."

Kouji's growl was followed by him, to the stupefication of everybody watching the exchange – Takuya and Kouji's battles had quickly become cheap entertainment to most of the class – leaning over the desk behind him and pressing his lips against the brunette's in a quick, but effective, kiss. Takuya completely froze at the contact and Kouji placed a second kiss on the other's soft lips for good measure and then sat back in his sear with a smug look as a red tinge spread across Takuya's cheeks.

"Um, Takky?" Junpei asked carefully.

The calling of his nickname seemed to effectively snap Takuya's brain back to the proper time zone and Izumi swore she could see flames burst from the tips of the hair, which for once in a long time had been left down to frame his face. "Kouji Minamoto! What have I told you about doing that kinda stuff in public?!" he exclaimed.

Kouji's smug grin grew as he turned to the fuming brunette and replied evenly. "You haven't said anything because it wasn't amongst the subjects covered last night. I warned you that things might go this way and you didn't object." Takuya's rage almost instantly deflated as he realized that Kouji was right.

Maybe he shouldn't have reconciled with Kouji, for no other reason that saving his sanity…

…And his perfect record of verbal battles with Kouji.

The thought was quickly dismissed as Takuya wouldn't dare let something like his being a sore loser interfere with his mended relationship with Kouji.

"Better be careful, Slim. Now that I know how to defuse your arguments, the score is going to even pretty quick. You just lost two rounds in one go."

Takuya sighed and stretched his arms across his desk to hang off the front and laid his head on the wood with a heavy sigh. "Yeah, but we're establishing rules on PDA." Kouji grinned as he reached back and took one of Takuya's hands in his own, receiving the attention of curious brown eyes.

"Whatever, just as long as people know that we're both off the market." Takuya briefly focused his attention on the whispers going on throughout the classmates surrounding them and laughed lightly.

"I doubt we'll have problems keeping a lid on it if this class is anything to judge by." His smile fell and his expression became thoughtful. "you know, we sure made a fast leap from friends to a couple. I could've sworn I walked into this room single."

A response was given by Izumi, "Please, you haven't been single since you and Kouji started hanging our. Everybody knows that."

"Well, 'everybody' could have clued me into that," Kouji replied.

"You've always been slow on the uptake, so we'll let it slide," Junpei decided to put in his two cents while it was still innocent conversation.

Instead of responding to his friends, Kouji turned back to Takuya again, who was looking at him carefully and he leaned closer to the brunette to hopefully keep this conversation between the two of them. Thankfully the other two caught the hint and commenced their own methods of attracting attention to themselves.

"So, what do you say, Slim? Should we give this whole dating thing a shot? Apparently everybody else thinks it's a reasonable idea."

Takuya was silent for a minute as his brain jumped to what seemed like a thousand different reasons why he _shouldn't_ date Kouji, but they all seemed to vanish as his mind echoed _I love him_. He had only now been able to confidently acknowledge that one fact that had existed within him for a long time. Kouji was really what he had ever needed and there was no way he could let him go now.

The hand that was being held by Kouji tightened and Takuya brought the limb to his lips to press to the smooth skin of the back of Kouji's hand. When his eyes locked onto Kouji's again, the latter could see determination burning within the brown orbs.

"Do you really have to ask?"

_Okay, now I'm on cloud nine,_ Kouji couldn't help but think, completely ignoring that he would later dismiss the thought as stupid since he didn't believe in that sort of thing.

* * *

i really want to thank absolutely everybody who actually put in a vote. i sent out individual thanks to most of you but another thanks to **Pampers Baby Dry.,** christineLSL, **Alex Cook,** frogger666,** Illusionwolf, **TerrierLee,** Takuto Shinigami,** Dragi,** DarkNinjaBunneh,** bloodykazekitsune,** The Yaoi Mistress,** Artificial Dreams,** Tohruismyoneechan,** Nathanaelle,and **Gark**. thank you all and i assure you that every single vote helped me get in the right direction not only with Kouichi but with certain details of Takuya's past.

again, sorry for the shortness, but i finally updated and i'm already quite a ways into the next chapter. another reason for where i ended this was i didn't want to reveal my final decision on Kouichi just yet, but you'll know in the next chapter.

Anyway, please review  
see you all later  
**Kimra Dattei**


	6. Like Him

**Story Title:** Mars  
**Chapter Title:** Like Him  
**Pairing:** Kouji/Takuya  
**Chapter Word Count:** 5,307 words (definite improvement from last chapter)  
**Disclaimer:** not mine  
**Warning:** yaoi. is this really necessary at this point?

i'll ramble later.

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Chapter 6: Like Him **

Kouji sighed yet again as his boredom got the better of him only to be ignored once again by the other teen seated across the room. The art studio was undoubtedly one of the dullest places in existence and the black-haired teen had hey to figure out why exactly Takuya liked it so much. Sure, it was open to accommodate a large number of people and supplies - Kouji had noticed how the supplies always seemed to spread further away from Takuya as his work and time progressed - it was always calm even if it wasn't precisely quiet, and the windows allowed for beautiful lighting...

...And he had obviously had this conversation with Takuya before. That last thought was way too artisty to be of his own interpretations.

Anyway, he knew how much Takuya loved being outside - his love for soccer had long ago been revealed - but he always insisted to hole himself in the studio or his room. _But,_ Kouji amended, _at least his bedroom has alternative entertainment. Like a bed..._

Kouji had to pry his mind from that train of thought. Takuya had at some point become adept at figuring out when Kouji was thinking about him in that manner and would usually do something to quell the black-haired teen's desire. Hey, he couldn't help that he really did want to see his boyfriend out of his clothes.

_...Boyfriend..._

Kouji's dark eyes turned to the brunette, who was currently putting yet another indentation into his pencil with his teeth as he drew whatever image had caught his attention today. The dark-haired teen settled for just watching Takuya as he mulled over the fact that the brunette was now truly and officially his boyfriend. It was something he wasn't planning on changing anytime soon. Sure, what they had gone through was basically essential to how close they were but it wasn't something that Kouji would bear repeating.

For a change, Takuya let out a frustrated sigh and tossed his pencil to the floor next to his bag at his feet. Kouji held in a triumphant whoop as he stood and walked over to the sulking teen and encircled Takuya's lithe chest with his arms. "Can't win every time, Slim. Best you learn that immediately." Takuya reached up with his right hand and lightly thumped Kouji on the forehead.

"I can't decide if this is a mess-up or brilliant," Takuya vaguely explained.

"Well, this is you we're talking about." Brown eyes looked up to him in question to elaborate. "We'll call it a failure and save you the debate later."

"You haven't looked at it. I refuse to accept it as a valid opinion unless you know what you're failing." Kouji rolled his eyes and looked away from the brunette to the sketch he had spent the last few hours on.

His eyes widened as he looked at a drawing of himself sitting in front of the window as he had for the duration of Takuya's working period. His body was angled to be parallel with the wall, but his face was turned away from the view to the outside world. But the most captivating feature of the sketch was the shadows that covered his entire face in a way that made it impossible to determine his expression.

Kouji was reminded of Takuya's indecision when the smaller teen could no longer keep from nervously fidgeting in Kouji's grasp. "You were content, not to mention awake, when I started drawing so I started with your face. I hadn't realized until a few minutes ago that I had followed the shadows on your face from the sun moving behind you."

Kouji leaned forward, using his arm across Takuya's chest to move the brunette's head o tilt up slightly and pressed his lips to his boyfriend's soft ones. It took a few seconds for Takuya's brain to catch on that he was being kissed and he parted his lips slightly so Kouji's tongue could taste his if he decided to deepen their connection. That was one thing Takuya learned quickly: Kouji was just as likely to deepen a kiss as he was to simply touch their lips together for any period of time. He had really shocked the brunette the first time he had pressed his tongue past Takuya's lips, but now both enjoyed the kissing aspect of the relationship without any discomfort.

It seemed that Kouji was simply going for the fastest way to shut Takuya's nervous ramblings up as he pulled away quicker that he normally would. He smiled as he tightened his embrace.

"I can't see what your problem is, Slim. I have to say that's the best one of me you've done so far."

Takuya grinned as he looked over the canvass once more. "That's just because you're never awake when I draw you. At least in this one you could be awake."

"See, you've already got a theme for your first like of releases: 'Kouji Minamoto and the Many Faces of Sleep.' Kinda rolls off the tongue, huh?" Takuya shrugged away Kouji's arms and bent over and began packing away all his supplies.

"I don't know why you think it would make me any money. Half the school knows what you look like asleep…and naked," he finished with a grin as Kouji momentarily faltered; he hadn't been with anybody since meeting Takuya and sometimes forgot how much of a playboy he had been.

Takuya shouldered his bag after slipping the canvass into the bag and stood up. He grinned in triumph as Kouji still failed to respond. "I thought you didn't like the studio," he suddenly said as he reached the door. Kouji blinked and looked over to the other teen in confusion.

"It's not on my list of favorite rooms. Why?"

"Because if you're not out when I close the door, you're spending the night here."

Kouji sprung into action, grabbing his bag and running past Takuya out the door. The brunette laughed as he closed and locked the door as he always did when he worked late. When he turned to face Kouji, the dark-haired teen automatically reached out and took his hand before pulling him down the hall in the direction of his motorcycle.

After a few steps in silence, Kouji looked back over his shoulder to the brunette trailing behind. "You know, I never once caught you looking in my direction. Usually I catch you a few times but I actually thought you were ignoring me completely."

"That's for me to know and you to ponder over for the rest of the day," Takuya replied with a grin. "Anyway, I'm finished in the studio for the week. I've got a few sketches that need to go on a canvass to paint and I do those all at home."

"Then I can get you out of that stuffy room after school so you can get some clean air in those lungs and some muscle on those bones."

"You talked to the phys. ed. instructor, didn't you?"

"I just don't get why you hole yourself up in the studio or your room when you love being outside so much. And don't deny it, you told me so yourself." They had reached Kouji's bike and he passed Takuya's helmet back to he brunette, who released the elastic tie holding his hair back and pulled the helmet over his head. "And you're not going to give me an answer." It wasn't the first time Takuya brushed him off like this and he learned quickly enough that the less he pressed the matter the quicker the brunette would speak to him.

"It's just that...inside things are always familiar. Stuff is always changing when you're outside and if you don't change with it things happen, There's no control." Takuya's quiet voice was muffled further by the helmet's visor, but Kouji caught the helpless tone nonetheless. The tone made Kouji wish he could see the teen's brown eyes that never failed to show their owner's emotions. He just felt so lost not knowing for sure where he was supposed to take the conversation. He had a sneaking suspicion that Takuya did that on purpose.

After a few minutes of tense silence, Kouji swung his leg over the bike and sat down. He looked up to Takuya and grinned. "Unpredictability is half the fun of living. If you know every detail of tomorrow, you're not alive." There was a short pause before a light laugh arose from Takuya. Without replying, Takuya sat behind Kouji, wrapping himself closely to the other teen's back as he started the bike.

* * *

Kouji yawned loudly as he unlocked the door to his apartment and stumbled wearily into his home. Kicking off his shoes he made his way over to the bed and practically fell onto it. _That is the last time I play any sport against Slim,_ he couldn't keep that particular thought from rising up again. The day before, when he had discovered the brunette's "fear" of the outdoors, he had instantly devoted himself to re-introducing Takuya to the joys of outdoor life. 

Today had consisted of testing Takuya's basketball skills. Kouji was loathed to admit they were apparently a lot better than his own. Then again, if Kouji hadn't taken it so easy on him to begin with, Takuya most likely wouldn't have gotten the fifteen point lead that didn't close throughout the game no matter how many baskets the dark-haired teen managed to make.

Kouji's face molded into a smirk as his thoughts moved past his defeat. _On the other hand, damn that boy has a fine ass. I could have never arranged, let alone survived, that many gropes within a few hours._

...Okay so maybe there were a few other factors involved than the initial lead.

Kouji quickly slipped into sleep, planning out his moves for tomorrow, but was stopped abruptly by a loud knock on the door. There was only a very short debate before he chose to ignore whoever though nagging him was a good idea.

Five minutes later the knocks were coming constantly with no pauses in-between. _Whoever it is is damn sure that I want to see them._ Deciding that going right to sleep now was a flop, he pried himself out of the bed and drug his feet in the direction of the door.

Unlocking the door clumsily, he yanked the door open and prepared himself to engage in a yelling fit, but the person he saw on the other side of his entryway stopped him in his tracks most effectively. Identical blue-grey eyes locked onto his and he was temporarily stunned as he remembered that he wasn't an only child, and then berated himself for letting it slip his mind just because they lived in different countries.

"So am I going to stand here all night?" a voice that was much more light and friendlier than his own came from the other teen.

Updating his brain to the right moment, Kouji grinned and leaned his narrow body against the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest. "If you really want to, Kouichi, but honestly I would prefer to talk to you inside. It gets pretty chilly at night."

"Very funny. Unlike you, I actually wait to be invited in," Kouichi replied as he stepped around his twin. He pulled off his baseball cap to reveal his own ink-black hair that was cut at his jaw line instead of flowing down to the middle of his back like Kouji kept his.

"Which is why you're still a virgin."

"And you would know all about unwanted entry, wouldn't you?" Kouji was temporarily thrown off by the casual tone of the reply before he recalled that even though his brother was by nature proper and reclusive, years of exposure to Kouji gave him the wonderful gift of taking any subject in stride.

Kouji was putting forward a lot of effort to give Takuya a similar attitude. He knew there was a great pervert buried deep within that shy nature of his boyfriend.

Closing the door behind him, he replied, "Actually, no; nobody can resist these killer looks."

"The only thing you've killed is teenage virginity. Anyway, what took you so long?"

"How was I supposed to know it was you?" Kouichi looked over to his twin before looking around the room. His eyes landed on the answering machine and he walked over to it and pushed the playback button.

_"Hey Aniki. I know it's been a while since we talked, but I nagged Dad into letting me come and pay you a visit. I think he figured that he's tried everything but letting your genius brother influence you in the right direction. He actually paid my way here so I didn't have to take the time to work up money for the trip. I don't want to take too much of his money though so I'm just going to stay with you for a while so make sure you can put up with me. I'll be there later this evening. Ja ne!"_

"Okay, give me a break. I just got home not long ago and was going to go right to sleep," Kouji defended.

"And where were you? I left that at 9 o'clock this morning." Kouichi was expecting to hear about a wild night in some random chick's bed and Kouji would have indulged, but he never could lie to his brother.

"Playing basketball with the cutest/hottest thing to ever walk the school," Kouji added a dreamy sigh for dramatic effect. Kouichi looked confused and Kouji wondered if he was thinking along the lines of...

"You played against yourself? Who won?"

...Maybe he needed to stop bragging about how sexy he was. Well, now he had Takuya to brag about so it shouldn't be too tough.

"No, but I would probably win if that was the case."

"Nice to know. So who's this hotty?"

"Don't forget the cute part. His name's Takuya Kanbara and, as of last week, he's my boyfriend." Kouji's voice was so smug and victorious that Kouichi didn't have to question if he was happy with being attached to someone like that.

For a second, he didn't recognize his twin with such a happy and content expression. Between the two of them, Kouji was never the content one. He always had some kind of qualm with one thing or another.

Well, now he just _had_ to meet this Takuya Kanbara. He must be something special.

"How long are you here for anyway?" Kouji changed the subject smoothly enough.

"I'm trying to work out staying permanently. If I do, maybe Dad will finally get off your back about coming home."

Kouji growled in frustration at the reminder. "I come out three minutes before you and he thinks I'm the best choice to follow in his businessy footsteps. Did he ever consider that you actually _want_ to?"

"Maybe he just does it to annoy you because of your career choice."

"He just doesn't get the talent it takes to professionally race motorcycles."

"I can't believe you're still on about that. If nothing else, you're persistent. Now that I think about it, that might be why he's so vigilant: Dad doesn't' want anybody else to prove that they can be more stubborn and hard-headed than him. Anyway, think you can hole me up for a while?"

"Just as long as I don't have to feed or clothe you."

"I've already registered at your school and am set up to start tomorrow."

"What name did you register under?"

"Himura Kouichi, of course. I can't just go around disregarding my legal name, even if I am a proud Minamoto."

"Well, find your own ride 'cuz I drive Takuya and there isn't room for three on my bike."

"You are such a considerate older brother. What would I do without you?"

"Be some boring goody-two-shoes. Face it: I'm a damn good bad influence."

"I'm almost afraid to see the damage you've done to your boyfriend already."

"You can give me an estimate on his 'damage' tomorrow when you meet him. For now can we just sleep like I was originally planning to do?"

Kouichi laughed at his twins' growl which was followed by an uncharacteristic pout. He nodded and Kouji silently curled up into a tight ball in his bed and was almost instantly asleep to let the other teen work everything out for himself. Ah, the joy of siblings.

* * *

Kouichi had to admit that Kouji wasn't really joking when he said Takuya Kanbara was cute, and he wasn't even bi. Expressive chocolate colored eyes were definitely a crowning feature, but without the auburn hair falling around his face and a dark skin tone he wouldn't be as ethereal as he was in Kouichi, and apparently Kouji's, opinion. The slender teen had a sense of being beyond the norm and Kouichi was already looking forward to knowing the brunette. However, that would have to wait until his brother caught a break from the teen in question's wrath. 

Apparently Kouji Mina-moron - lovingly called such by a blonde friend of his - hadn't given Takuya any warning that he would be meeting his boyfriend's identical twin. They had walked into the room and once Takuya's eyes had landed on Kouichi he had froze in bewilderment. Kouji looked in the same direction and he let out a colorful string of profanity. He then stepped in front of his boyfriend and laughed nervously.

"Slim, this is my twin, Kouichi. He's visiting from America for a while. Hope you get along and I pray I survive the day," he ended with a wince. He turned to Kouichi, leaving Takuya to process what he had said. "You weren't supposed to beat me here. I was going to tell Takuya, Junpei, and Izumi at the same time."

"Sorry to ruin your plans, but I had to be here early."

"It had been at that point that Takuya had growled Kouji's name and had initiated a good tongue-lashing. Honestly, Kouichi had been blown away when Takuya had first begun: the brunette just didn't seem to be the type that would be upfront about his anger. A few minutes later the blonde girl and a heavy-set brunette walked into the room, grinned at the distressed Kouji, saw Kouichi and, determining him to be the cause of the dispute, sat down next to him and began grilling him for an event update.

"And don't even try to kiss me quiet!" Takuya's last comment caught Kouichi's attention.

"Who says I was going to?" Kouji defended.

"The bored, aggravated look on your face. You always get that look right before you shut me up."

"This happen often?" Kouichi asked the blonde. She grinned widely and nodded.

"Oh, practically every day."

"What a lovely relationship my brother has found for himself."

"Actually, I'd say Takky gets away with murder," the brunette said with a grin. "Not many people can say they've beat Kouji thirty-seven times in an argument." Kouichi winced and debated on whether or not he should press the subject. Eventually curiosity won out.

"And how many has Kouji won now?" he dared asking.

"What is it, thirteen now?" The inquiry was directed at the blonde.

"If he worms his way out of this one, yeah."

"I wormed my way out, but I wouldn't call it a victory," Kouji joined the conversation as he and a considerably more serene Takuya sat down, Kouichi turned to the brunette instantly.

"Don't you say anything," Takuya beat him to speaking an apology. "I'm not mad that he didn't tell me you were here. I'm mad because he didn't tell me about you at all. You don't apologize on his behalf."

"But it started an unnecessary argument between you," Kouichi reasoned.

"All our arguments are either unnecessary or pointless. We've simply got competitive personalities. There's really no dispute between us and later we'll be arguing again."

"It just seemed serious to me."

"Relax Kouichi. This is just my way of growing Slim's backbone so he'll stand up to more than just me." Takuya just rolled his eyes and turned away from the group to cut off his involvement with the conversation. Izumi looked over to Kouji and asked what was wrong with the brunette with her expression. She was let down when Kouji shrugged his lack of knowledge.

Whatever had Takuya's attitude off was definitely relatively serious. His reaction to Kouichi was completely out of character, as was his turning completely away from a normal conversation within their group. Kouji just hoped he wouldn't have to read dangerous waters of their relationship now that the brunette was finally really opening up to him.

* * *

Takuya sighed in relief as his body sagged against the gate surrounding the roof of the school. He hadn't felt that claustrophobic in a classroom for a few years now. Long enough that he had forgotten how it felt. _Stupid Kouji_ he thought, being unable to come up with anybody more suitable to blame for his minor relapse. _If only he had warned me about Kouichi then I could have prepared myself._

Then again it wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't look so much alike.

"So much for the anchor of the world indoors. I should have known something like this would happen once I started believing there was somewhere safe and constant." His mind automatically flashed back to when he had said something akin to that to Kouji.

He hadn't planned on telling his boyfriend anything along those lines until much later but he couldn't hold it in once faced with it. So while he hadn't _planned_ on it, it turned out that he had really _wanted_ the other teen to be as close to him as possible. This was just a good step in the right direction to get them started down that path.

The sound of the door opening and closing caught his attention but he didn't turn, already having an idea as to who it was. His behavior had been too off for Kouji to let it go unquestioned. He wasn't even surprised when a pair of strong arms wrapped around his torso in an embrace. His eyes slid shut as warm lips pressed a kiss to his neck at the base of his hairline. More kisses were scattered across his neck and jaw line and Takuya's head lolled back against his boyfriend's shoulder as warmth spread through his entire body while his senses were overcome by the pleasuring sensations.

It didn't take long for Kouji to take advantage of their position and press his lips onto Takuya's, instantly pressing his tongue into the brunette's waiting mouth to satisfy his constantly growing addiction for the taste of his boyfriend. The smaller teen couldn't hold in the deep moan that passed from his mouth into Kouji's, which was responded to with a low growl from the dark-haired teen. The connection lasted for another minute until the kiss started turning tense and Takuya started pulling away slightly, telling Kouji that he was ready for a break on his senses.

Now Kouji knew something was really off: Takuya had gotten used to kissing him almost instantly and he usually kept them going until Kouji decided that it was enough for the moment. The brunette hadn't been the first to pull away for over a week.

Pulling away he rested his head on Takuya's shoulder as the brunette took a few slow and deep breaths to calm himself.

"You're getting stingy, you know. I didn't even get to kiss you goodbye, let alone good night, yesterday when I dropped you off last night," Kouji complained. "Then you give me just enough to get me all hot and bothered."

"I have two good reasons for the former. One: my mom was in the next room and she never stays still long. Two: do you really think that I wasn't aware of you feeling me up during our basketball game? If I let your lips anywhere near me I wouldn't be able to pry you off with a forklift. As for the latter, sounds like a personal problem regarding your self-control."

"Good enough excuses, but don't you have a third reason that explains why you've been acting weird all day?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Not aware of a third excuse or your actions?"

_Fair enough._

It wasn't that Takuya didn't trust Kouji to know why he was so off his kilter today. He just didn't want to talk about it here where there was a high chance of being overheard. And if there was one thing the brunette couldn't tolerate, it was those stupid "poor kid" looks that everybody would give him once they knew. And he knew better than to assume that Kouji wouldn't give him the same look. Sure, it didn't fit his general personality, but Takuya had noticed how much differently Kouji acted around him than around anybody else.

"Slim...Takuya, you know you can tell me anything. That's what I'm here for and it really bugs me that you won't allow me to help you when you obviously need it," Takuya couldn't help but let out a laugh, which caused Kouji to growl in frustration because he knew his boyfriend was going to attempt to change the subject.

"How can I resist such an offer, especially if you calling me by name is involved?"

"Easy, you'll change the subject," Kouji's slightly bitter voice responded.

"Well, since it's a predicted move, I think I'll just ignore it altogether." Kouji opened his mouth and was about to press harder but stopped as he felt Takuya's lips on the side of his neck. "I just can't put it together right now, Kouji. I've never told anyone before and it's going to take a while to break myself from the idea that I have to keep it from everyone. When I do get it out, I want it to come out right. You deserve that much."

"All I really need to know is why you freaked out so bad to Kouichi and if it's going to be something we need to work around from now on."

"It's just an old issue being brought up and I couldn't deal with it without any warning. I doubt I'll have any more problems now that I got the chance to calm myself down. Believe me; you being here really did help." The look on Kouji's face told Takuya that his boyfriend still wanted to press the matter, but withheld himself out of concern of the brunette withdrawing any more from him. Takuya admitted that taking advantage of Kouji's caution towards discussing certain subjects with him was not something he wanted to, or would ever, get in the habit of doing. The fact that the other teen was sensitive enough to know when to stop spoke volumes to the brunette and he didn't want to risk losing that if it could be avoided.

He also had to admit that what he wasn't willing to talk about was really as much of a deal as hit had been a few years ago.

"Well then, if you're going to be okay with Kouichi you wouldn't mind talking to him privately, would you?" Takuya looked up to Kouji by way of asking for elaboration. "Don't ask me. He just told me that he wanted to talk to you alone. He's probably just going to interview you to see if you're up to dealing with me for as long as I'm planning to hang onto you. You'd never guess that that mother-hen is the younger of us."

"Especially considering how you act most of the time," Takuya added as he pulled away from his boyfriend's arms. Kouji growled slightly at the jab, but just followed the smaller - and now grinning - teen back into the school to find his twin.

* * *

It didn't take long as the brunette walked into the art studio so he could pick up a few supplies he had left behind. Kouichi was seated at the window looking out and Takuya was struck by the differences between the twins. Unlike Kouji, who would never get completely comfortable in the surroundings provided by the studio, Kouichi seemed to be completely in his element here. Then, there were the differences in appearance. Takuya was sure that even if both styled their hair the same and dressed identically, the brunette would have minimal problems knowing which one was his boyfriend. And if his eyes ever failed to tell the differences than the rest of his senses never mistake the fell, sound, smell, or taste of Kouji. There was just something about Kouji that pulled in your attention and didn't let go while Kouichi's would probably melt into a crowd. 

Just like himself...

Familiarity breeds contempt they say, not that Takuya was one to be restricted by idioms.

On the other hand, the brunette was convincing himself gradually that Kouichi might become the most tolerable person he knew. Izumi and Junpei were good friends, but they were a little lacking when it came to knowing when to back off. Their interference when he and Kouji were arguing was proof to that. Kouji was...well, Kouji. Takuya knew he had never loved anybody like he loved Kouji, but there were times when he couldn't take Kouji's unabashed attitude and nature.

Another idiom was presented to Takuya: opposites attract.

The brunette sighed in frustration as his brain managed to bring his musings full-circle.

His sigh got him the attention of the other teen and he settled the nerves that had gotten worked up over the idea of talking to his boyfriend's twin brother.

"Hey, Kanbara-san," Kouichi muttered shortly, displaying his own nervousness with the situation.

"Takuya please. I really don't like being formal with people my own age." Kouichi's quiet demeanor was going to take some getting used to. Nobody Takuya knew was like this and he didn't have to deal with his own attitude on the receiving end. This was really working its way toward a new experience for the brunette.

"I know you don't want to hear it, but I really do want to apologize for Kouji. Honestly, that boy could use an update on common courtesy."

Takuya shrugged and debated briefly on whether he should reply verbally or not. Kouichi's expectant look decided for him. "Give me a break. Without his moron moments he would lose most of his appeal."

Kouichi raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Do I want to know what the rest is?"

Takuya grinned as he suppressed his embarrassment. "Sex, of course. Have you heard his reputation?"

Something passed through Kouichi's eyes that Takuya didn't get a chance to identify. "If that's the case, I don't see why you are going out with him. He can be a real strain if you don't know how to deal with his personality.

Now Takuya was suppressing annoyance. Just what right did this stranger think he had asking about his relationship with Kouji? "Sorry, but I don't see myself having any obligations to explain myself to anyone, especially not someone I've known all of five minutes." He walked across the room and grabbed the supply box he had come for and turned to the door.

"So, you don't like being pushed into a corner enough that you get strength of mind from such a situation." Takuya turned to look at the other teen and saw relief fill dark eyes. "My bro knows how to pick the keepers." Their eyes met and Takuya had to fight off turning away from the observant gaze. "I really do look forward to getting to know you, Takuya Kanbara."

* * *

first of all, QUESTION: does anybody know Takuya's mom's name? i know that in the show, it shows it and i would prefer to use her real name. thanks in advance whether you know or not. 

second: for those who were looking forward to a dead and creepy Kouichi, i hope you weren't too disappointed by my decision. i will say this much though don't get your hopes up. you just might get what you wanted in the end. not sure if i want to go through with it or not yet though.

third: kudos for my reviewers (i'm not saying my appreciation for my reviewers really comes in third, i'm just going with the flow right now) thank you everybody for your reviews. each one does help me want to get through transcribing my stories faster. it seems that no matter how fast i can type, i'm never fast when it comes to transcribing. i'm really easily distracted.

so, i'll keep it short this time around and just say see you guys all next time. i'm trying to get back up to my normal chapter length and even though this was an improvement from chappy 5, i'm still bummed at how short it was.  
buh-bye  
**Kimra Dattei**


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